Born Ready Zine

we were
born ready
WE ARE HERE TO LIVE OUR
DREAMS AND TAKE CHARGE
OF OUR LIVES.
JOIN US IN OUR EFFORTS TO
END GUARDIANSHIP WORLD-
WIDE.
Today, tens of thousands of
people with intellectual and
psycho-social disabilities are not
allowed to participate in society.
We can’t work, marry, vote, access
health, own funds, or be free.
Everything is decided for us.
This is called guardianship.
The UN Convention on the Rights
of Persons with Disabilities,
ratified by almost every country,
calls for the abolishment of all
forms of guardianship. States
must ensure that everyone gets
the support they need to make
their own choices.
However, guardianship continues
to be the paradigm throughout
the world.
Learn how we can change that
together at www.bornready.me

1
27 people
With 27
dreams of
life with
dignity.
Few things are more dehumanizing than
denying people the freedom of choice in their
lives. Nothing kills dreams as fast as the
realization that you are not allowed to make
any decisions for yourself, ever.
It is the ability to dream, and to pursue our
dreams, that makes us human. The journey
defines us, empowers us, teaches us and makes
us grow.
The right to dream is absolute. Everyone
deserves a chance to make their dreams a
reality – even if they are not always attainable.
This is how we reach our fullest potential. This
is how we truly become ourselves.

2
marian
todorov
21, Lovech
I dream of taking care of
animals. I love birds.

3
temenuzhka
ivanova
24, Lovech
I dream of becoming a cook.
I love to make cheese
pastries and salad the most.

4
mihail
Stoimenov
32, Dobrich
I'm dressed as George Clooney right now. My
favorite films with him are "ER", "Batman and
Robin", and all the "Ocean’s" film series. I love
acting and I want to be an actor.

5
natalia
vitkova
41, Vidin
I dream of being a princess. I’ve forgotten what
princesses do exactly. If I were a princess, I would be
able to do anything. I want to have magical powers, but
I won’t fly – I will command and tell people what to do.

7
Elitsa
Dimitrova
29, Dobrich
I dream of being a police officer. I want to
bring order to my town, Dobrich. It is
chaotic, very chaotic. Drivers do not indicate
when they want to turn, they throw away
garbage wherever they want. Don’t they see
the trash bins? Misery! I want to make the
city nice for the citizens.
I once saw a police officer in Dobrich, who
was my age. I like to watch police or criminal
TV series such as “CSI: Miami”, “NCIS: Los
Angeles”, “Hawaii Five-0”. My favorite actor is
David Caruso. He is the main character in
the “CSI: Miami” series. If I were a police
officer in Dobrich, I would fix the
ecosystem and clean up all the streets.
I listen to metal and rock'n'roll. My
favorite bands are the Red Hot Chilli
Peppers, Kiss, Skidrow, Disturbed. When
I sing “Saint” by Marilyn Manson, I saw
the translation - and it's just chilling,
shattering, liberating. I free myself from
all the negative emotions.
41, Vidin

8
Stefan
Nedyalkov
22, Dobrich
My birthday is on June 24, the same as the football
player Lionel Messi’s. That's why I like him so much! I
dream of becoming a football player. I watch a lot of
football, in particular the Barcelona team, where Lionel
Messi plays. I also love playing football when I have free
time. I play with some children from my town. We play
on a field. I want to write a letter to Messi - to ask him
to teach me some tricks. I want to personally meet him
and play with him at the stadium in Barcelona. I also
know a little bit of Spanish - "Hola, como estas?",
"Buenos dias", "Adios", "Te quiero". I learned from the
Internet and I had a Spanish phrasebook.

9
Zhulieta
Nedelcheva
26, Plovdiv
I live with mom and dad. I help
them, I clean, I tidy up my room,
I go shopping, I cook. I dream of
being a cook and a folklore singer.

10
krasen
simeonov
29, Varna
I dream of being a singer. Yes, I can sing.
Also, I dream of working as a cook. I know
cake recipes. I put in sugar, eggs, baking
powder, and cocoa.

11
Nikolay
Nikolaev
41, 26, Vidin Ruse
I dream of being a cook. My favorite food is steak. I salt
them, I season them with everything! We cook in the day
center. We make cheese pastries, spaghetti, pies. I want
to work in a restaurant. I love French food.

12
Tsvetelina
Georgieva
26, Sofia
I dream of being a librarian and organizing
books. At the moment, I'm working with
finances and accounting. But I graduated
in librarianship. At home, we have a large
library with many books.

13
Simeon
Stoyanov
23, Ruse
I dream of being a teacher.
Mostly a history teacher. As
long as you know about the
history, it's not so difficult.

15
Georgi
Ivanov
33, Varna
Since I was a child, I’ve dreamed of becoming
a sales person. I'm trying to find some kind of
work I can do permanently. I want to order
products, maybe in a grocery store, in a small
neighborhood or in the larger chains. But
apparently, it’s very difficult, they do not
want people with disabilities. It’s just a dream
I wish to come true. Whether it will happen,
this is another question.
Previously, I worked at the company of a
friend, I distributed flyers. At the moment, I
distribute advertising newspapers only on
weekends. I have a disability pension, but I
think it’s impossible to meet ends with the
pension alone. My mother and I are retired.
After setting aside the money needed for the
most basic stuff, there is nothing left for
other things in life.
Three years ago, I worked at the seaside
as a dishwasher. [The other workers]
called us, me and another boy, all sorts of
names such as grandfathers, uncles and
so on, which was so ugly and insulting to
me. We were younger than them. We did
our job well.
I've been going to the labor office for so
many years now, but they keep rejecting
me. I don’t think that people like us
should be driven away. I understand we
can’t do more complicated work, but
there is work we can do.

16
Nadezhda
Karadjova
36, Varna
I dream of becoming a tourist guide because I love
travelling. Last year, I went to Spain, and this year
I'm going with my mother to Prague. The feeling of
traveling is very pleasant – you learn new things,
different cultures, different languages. I have been
studying Spanish for some time now. For example,
dog is "perro" in Spanish, good morning is "buenos
dias", and enjoy your meal is "buen provecho".

17
iliya
rangelov
36, Lovech
I dream of being an artist. Actually, that's
what I do. When I have free time and there
are no people around, I draw in the
afternoons. Ever since first grade, I draw.
Ever since seeing my teacher draw, it
immediately ignited my passion. I draw
icons, portraits, graphics, on t-shirts, on
clothes, on windows, I draw on anything.

18
Stoika
HristovA
24, Varna
I dream of being an artist. I love drawing illustrations.
I am not lazy and I love to draw. When my
drawings are ready, I let my friends choose from
them. I give them away as presents.

19
Dimitar
Atanasov
37, Sofia
I love listening to music. I dream of being a sound engineer and
making recordings. I love listening to Prodigy. I feel joyful
listening to this music. I have other favorite bands too, probably
too many to name. DJ Bobo, Master Boy. I love electronic music.

20
Iliya
Iliev
26, Plovdiv
I dream of checking tickets for sporting events. Because I see
that these people do their job. I look at them at the matches. I
like football very much. I want to do this because it makes me
feel close to football. I like the contact with people too.

21
Ivan
Draganski
22, Plovdiv
I love animals! My favorite animals are dogs and horses.
I once went to an equestrian center. I went horseback riding.
I like to collect the eggs from the hens. I love to milk the goats
and the sheep. If I see a wounded animal, I want to help it.

22
Lachezar
Stoyanov
17, Plovdiv
I dream of being an artist. Since I was
a small child, I did only drawings in
the kindergarten. Then my mother
saw them and told me that this is
what I need to do. When it was time
for me to go to school, she told me –
I will sign you up to the arts school.
When she went there to enroll me, it
didn’t work out because they
required a graduate certificate, and
because of my terrible fate I couldn’t
enroll in an art school. And now I'm in
a school with a business and
entrepreneurship profile.
I draw at home. Currently, I am into
drawing skulls and similar stuff.
Once I realized that I was not going
to attend the arts school, I decided
it would be better to go to a
teacher so I started taking lessons
with an artist to learn from him. But
he changed his teaching venue a
few times, so it didn’t work out.

24
Iliya
Iliev
46, Vidin
I dream of being a singer. I like to sing folklore songs. I sing
every day. When I was younger, I dreamed of taking singing
classes, but they didn’t have any time slots that were convenient.
Now we're organizing performances with people in the
protected home. Recently, we did one in the local bookstore.

25
marieta
petrova
24, Vidin
I want to be a table tennis champion. I've been training for
three years now. I’ve even participated in a table tennis
tournament in Serbia. The first year we, the Bulgarians, won.
I want to compete more and to score first place. I’m good.
I want to go to the special Olympics, that's my goal.

26
Deyan
Damyanov
30, Ruse
I dream of driving a train. I love trains. You look out the
window. It's lovely. You take pictures. I also like the bus.
Today, I’ll ride the subway. Do you know how fast it is? It
is very nice. But I want to drive trains, so I can look out
the window because it's dark in the subway.

27
Assen
Assenov
35, Vidin
I help with the cooking in the protected home. Every
Sunday, we prepare the menu for the week. We do it
together. We say what we want for breakfast, lunch and
dinner. I have to learn to cook better. I would cook beans,
lentils, peas, moussaka, soup. For desserts - crème
caramel is nice, cake is nice. If I have to make a dessert for
someone, I will make them a banana, strawberry or
orange pudding. I really want to work with other people,
who will help me.

28
Dimitar
Arizanov
28, Plovdiv
I dream of being an actor because I want to try
something different. It makes me feel proud. I’ve acted
once in a performance about the story of Adam and Eve.
I would very much like to get on stage. I also want to be
among the actors, who are in the movies. I love action
movies. I have some favorite actors like Sylvester Stallone.
I've seen all of his movies. Rambo 1, Rambo 2, Rambo 3,
Rambo 4 ... all of them.

29
Gabriela
Valcheva
27, Dobrich
I want to help the sick.
The most important thing
for me is helping people.

30
Ivan
Edrev
25, Lovech
I dream of being a business manager or being more than that in the future. My motivation
is to be able to develop a company, to make it something more than what it is. In general,
the manager should treat people well so that they can respond in the same way, because if
he behaves badly with them, they won’t respect him. There won’t be that positive emotion
towards him that drives everything.
I would like to work in the tech or retail business because I have studied tailoring. I have
tried to apply for clothes-related work, but it's not easy because there are too many
requirements and I'm trying to fulfill them.
I have lived in my town Lovech all my life, now I’m in the capital Sofia. I don’t live in a
protected home, but in a house. I want to be able to help those children (with disabilities),
who are in need. And to show them that the world is not as terrible as they think. I want to
show them what the other face of the world is, that there is also good, not just bad.

32
Stefan
Ivanov
20, Dobrich
I worked for several months in the civic center in Dobrich.
As a general worker, we maintained the alleys around the
cemeteries. I enjoyed working. I would like to work again.
If possible, I would work as a horticulturist or an
ecologist, something like that. I like nature. Now I'm
dressed as a samurai because Samurai Jack is wise and
fights for justice. He wants to return to his world, and
that’s why I want to be like him.

Concept and production: Fine Acts
Photos: Yana Lozeva
Design: Kameliya Velichkova
With the support of:
Bulgarian Centеr for Not-for-profit Law (BCNL)
Bulgarian Association for Persons with Intellectual
Disabilities (BAPID)
The project is supported in part by a grant from the
Foundation Open Society Institute in cooperation with
the Human Rights Initiative of the
Open Society Foundations.

Support us at
www.bornready.me