Disability and advocacy

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I attended a soul-touching lecture by one of the leading disability experts in the city.

Disability is often a social problem more than a personal problem. A highly accomplished lady who has double masters including one from a UK university was hounded and stopped from entering the metro station one morning by railway officials and some people who thought she was mad .The lady has cerebral palsy. Public perception of disability is based in deep-rooted ignorance and indifference. We love to live in denial. Do we ever think why we do not see too many disabled people on the streets of India? It is not because they do not exist but because we do not have the infrastructure which would allow them to live like you and me.

Each individual has some kind of disability. Nobody is perfect. Our individual disabilities can pose huge challenges for us while responding to specific situations in life. My neighbour’s adult son has the mind of a young child .He sings aloud at odd hours enjoying a swing in the common area downstairs. People feel he should be kept behind locked doors. The fact is that just as I have a right to live the way I want to, differently abled people have similar rights to live on their own terms in society. Anything that does not fit into our norms has to be condemned.

My teenage niece has a friend who has a structural deformity which gives her face a different shape. The problem can be corrected with surgery and her dad is determined to help her .But in the meanwhile she has to face lot of hostility from classmates. Fortunately she has friends like my niece who are least concerned about looks and feel that she looks like anybody else since everyone looks different in their own way.

My colleague has a special child and the stress he and his wife handles in life is extreme. A friend of ours , a qualified engineer gave up her high profile job when she discovered she had a special child. She was completely broken and withdrew into a shell for a long period of time.

Our social situation is such that the individuals themselves ,parents and family members are completely at a loss when faced with the challenge of living with disability .A hip bone fracture leading to a permanent disability has been devastating for my once super-active ,self-reliant mother .Her attitude to life has changed and damaged her self-confidence completely. There are many people like her and most of them have very restricted mobility due to conditions partly circumstantial but largely social.

Regular advocacy is important to educate and change people’s perception on disability. Watch this
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W86jlvrG54o