Hüsniye Benek, a 25-year-old disabled girl in Turkey's southeastern province of Şırnak, has been earning a livelihood for her family of six by working at her grocery store for three years.
Benek, living in Şırnak's Silopi district, says "We lost our father when I was a child, I have 13 brothers and sisters, I opened up my grocery store after some of my siblings left home after getting married, and I have been trying to earn a livelihood for the rest of my family members since then."
Benek reportedly transformed one of the adjoint rooms in their house into a grocery store.
"Customers help me, they take the products on the shelves because I'm disabled. I have difficulty due to physical conditions but I'm happy to support my family with my earnings," Benek says.
Praising her daughter's efforts and courage, Hüsniye's mother, Erzan Benek says "we can stand on our own feet thanks to my daughter."
Turkey's disabled want their fellow citizens to pay more attention to their problems, prominent figures of the disabled community have said.
On the International Day of Persons with Disabilities - first introduced in 1992 - Turkish associations stress the importance of education in improving the lives of what the UN calls "the world's largest minority group."
There are over 8 million disabled citizens in Turkey while more than 1 billion people in the world are living with some form of disability.
President Erdoğan, Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım and many Turkish associations for the disabled organized programs and meetings on Saturday to raise awareness over their daily preoccupations.
The Turkish government and local administrations have taken many steps to improve disabled people's lives in recent years.
There are close to 3,000 disabled people working in state jobs, according to the Turkish Family and Social Policies Ministry.
