ABSTRACT
After the fall of the Iron Curtain, many myths about this region collapsed together with the Soviet Union (SU). These myths were part of the official rhetoric of the Soviet politicians, which aimed to support the idea of a healthy, harmonious and able-bodied Soviet society. ‘There are no invalids in the USSR’ (Philips, 2009; Kell et al., 2008, p. 66) was one of such declarations, addressed towards the rivals of the Cold War as well as towards the citizens of the SU. However, in early nineties of the last century, the world found out that actually there were ‘invalids’ in the SU and was shocked by their living conditions, cases of extreme neglect, torture and violence.
