Aleksandar Matovski Cako

Aleksandar Matovski was born on 03.02.1991 in Skopje, Macedonia, as the second child in the family Matovski . At 3 months of age he was diagnosed with Down syndrome, which initially shocked and devastated his parents. Nevertheless, they decided that they will fight for their child and they are doing so ever since, with the support of their older daughter Marija and the younger son Bojan.

Since his very young age Cako has been working with special educators and, most importantly, he was treated as equal to the rest of the children in kindergarten. In 1998 he started going to a mainstream primary school – this was an important year as the process of educational inclusion was initiated in Macedonia. In 2006 he continued his education in one of the mainstream high schools in Skopje. He finished high school in 2010 and during the same year Cako got enrolled at the Pedagogical Faculty in Skopje, making him one of the first university students with Down syndrome in Macedonia.

Nowadays, Cako is finishing his studies and he is one of the most prominent fighters for human rights and rights of people with Down syndrome. He is a member of the Executive Board of the Center for Youth Activism “KRIK”, which works with people with disability and is focused on their integration in society. He is also an active member of Trisomija 21 – Skopje and Down Syndrome Center – Macedonia. Cako was an intern at the NGO “My career” in the period between December 2015 and February 2016, where he was working on mapping of all individuals with disability in Macedonia. He has participated in many projects regarding people with disability on local level: “Activated talks”, organized by UNICEF and Youth Educational Forum, ”Inclusive dance Festival” , organized by Trisomija 21 and Dancers Unted MK, “Ball of diversity” and many others.

 

Internationally, he attended the European Volunteering Service (EVS) project for people with disability by “Olde Vechte Foundation” in Ommen, Netherlands in the period of July and August 2013. In September 2013 he was UNICEF’s representative on the working meeting for development of post – 2015 agenda for people with disability. In March 2014, for the International World Down Syndrome Day, Cako presented his work in Banja Luka in Bosnia and Herzegovina. In November 2015, Cako was also part of the Erasmus+ youth exchange dedicated to the inclusion of people with disability “You will never walk alone” that took place in Mersin, Turkey. At the moment, one of the most important individual projects of Cako is “I am Cako”, his own radio show, broadcasted every last Wednesday in the month on the internet radio “Radio MOF”. In his show he addresses many different aspects of the lives of people with Down syndrome and the people with disability in general. He is quite active during his free time and his interests involve writing poetry (he has published two poetry books), dancing, photography and karate (he has a brown belt). For sharing his ideas Cako actively uses social media such as Facebook and YouTube. He has received many prizes, certificates and awards for his work. Cako was also selected to be part of the self – advocates at the World Down Syndrome Conference on 21 March 2016 in the UN Headquarters in New York, where he held his own speech.