DARIA KORZHAVINA HAS PASSED AWAY: UKRAINIAN HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVIST AND CO-FOUNDER OF FIGHT FOR RIGHT
Without Dasha, there would be no Fight For Right. Her contribution to the development of the disability rights movement in Ukraine is hard to overestimate.
Daria graduated from a school for visually impaired children in Kyiv and fulfilled her dream by entering the Faculty of Journalism at Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv. Since her student years, she has been fascinated by radio journalism, worked for a number of Kyiv media outlets, but always found time for human rights advocacy.
In 2016, she joined a project to overcome stereotypes about people with disabilities by skydiving and actively encouraging young people with disabilities to stand up for their rights. She organised first aid training for blind people. In May 2017, she co-founded the Fight For Right NGO with like-minded people, as she dreamed of living in an inclusive country where everyone is accepted on an equal footing.
Daria was particularly close to the issue of protecting the voting rights of people with disabilities. She became the subject of more than one article on why voters with disabilities should actively exercise their right to vote and how blind people can do so.
From the very beginning of the Accessible Cinema project, Daria has been active as an expert because she wanted blind people to be able to go to cinemas and enjoy cinema like everyone else. She has repeatedly joined the DOCUDAYS Documentary Film Festival as a living book to explain to people about the experience of blind people and dispel stereotypes using her own example.
Dasha also supported the Braille Studio initiative because she loved reading Braille and understood the importance of learning it. During the Fight For Right’s BeTogether inclusive spaces at the Platforma Art Factory (Street Food Festival), hundreds of people were able to write their name or sign a postcard in Braille for the first time thanks to Dasha.
Dasha identified herself as a bisexual person and was actively involved in protecting the rights of the LGBT+ community in Ukraine. At the Equality March in 2019, she marched with a poster saying “There are no heroes in the world, there are us”.
In 2018, Daria was included in the Top 30 Under 30 list of young leaders in Ukraine.
At Fight For Right, in recent months, Dasha has co-authored a book about the history of the movement for the rights of people with disabilities in Ukraine, which will be published in autumn.
“We will continue to love you as you have loved us. And Fight For Right. We will take care of Margot. We will support your dad. Your birthday, which falls on Human Rights Day on 10 December, we will celebrate for you and fight the same way. You once told me that you dreamed of making a revolution in people’s minds so that they would not think of disability as a problem, and we will do it in your memory,” Yulia Sachuk, Dasha’s friend.
“Dasha was an irrepressible engine, a generator of ideas and a very dedicated advocate for the rights of people with disabilities. She is survived by her little daughter. It’s hard to imagine the pain of her family and friends,” says Tatiana Gerasimova, director of Fight For Right, remembering her colleague and friend with regret and admiration.
Iryna Vyrtosu, co-founder of Fight For Right, still can’t believe that she and Dasha never met in recent months and didn’t go to the Kyiv Zoo as planned:
“We postponed our meeting. Because we have our whole lives ahead of us to meet, drink coffee, gossip, dream, make plans. To live…” – now these words sound painfully unfair.
From the very beginning of the war, all her friends tried to get Dasha abroad, but she flatly refused.
“Ira, I know every corner at home. I know where my spoon is, where my cup is. I know how to get to the bus stop on my own. At home, in Ukraine, I am independent. At home, I can be a responsible mum to my daughter. But abroad, despite the security, I will lose this independence. And it is very important to me,” Iryna Vertosu recalls Dasha’s words.
Dasha stayed because she was sure she would win. Another co-founder of the organisation, Anna Serputko, recalled this very thing:
“You wanted our victory so badly, so you will probably feel it for sure, and maybe even know more about it than we do, because you have invested so much in it. When I told you in the first days of the full-scale that I would probably be leaving, you told me that you had just delivered a whole bunch of bottles for Bandersmoothie. Constantly being useful, doing something for the Victory, for the protection of human rights – this was your lifestyle.”
Fight For Right advocacy manager Viktoria Kharchenko met Daria while studying at the Liderka school of political participation for girls and women with disabilities. “Firstly, she had bright hair and it immediately caught my eye. Secondly, she joined every discussion, commented, argued, formulated and defended her opinion very well. With Dasha, I had my first march – for women’s rights in Kyiv 2020, just before the covid. This is a very important memory for me and proof that I could do it. And it’s also connected to Dasha,” Victoria shares her dear memories.
Colleagues and friends will always remember Dasha as active, bright, and sometimes very categorical, especially when it came to violations of the human rights of people with disabilities.
“You really wanted to work, really wanted to be needed – by society and people. We will miss such stubborn, strong, principled people,” says Leonida Ponomaryova, one of the graduates of the first Liderka school.
“We didn’t know each other well, but for me she will always be a part of Fight For Right and the movement of women with disabilities – an activist, a journalist, open to new things and any adventure, ready to support others and defend human rights,” says Iryna Fedorovych, Head of Advocacy at Fight For Right.
She was also not shy about difficult topics. She spoke and explained. For example, about the sex of people with disabilities… Openly and frankly. Although in our society this topic still has a taboo status.
It is a great loss for us. But there is not only sadness in our hearts. There is also a whole ocean of warm memories and pride that Dasha was in our lives. For her courage, fearlessness, firmness and sometimes outrageousness. We will always remember and be proud of her.
We keep in touch with the family, including Dasha’s father, and want to support the people close to her both morally and financially. If you want to join in, here are the details of her father’s card 4149 4390 1756 9967 Korzhavin S.O.
