Recently I paid a visit to a rehabilitation/training center for
the persons with disabilities. It was a study tour. We were to
"familiarise" with the challenges these people face on matters
architecture, that is, their mobility and accessibility of buildings. We were
supposed to propose solutions to these challenges.
Apart from this, I gave myself the job of studying these people - their place in the sea of humanity. Let's delve into this to uncover the gold behind these persons.
These are some of the "break-throughs" I got from there.That the disabled are productive.This was contrary to my expectation. I expected to meet disillusioned men and women.I was wrong. They were happy.From their movements and actions you could tell that they had nothing to do with their "incapability". They "forgot" their condition and moved on with life.
We were ushered into their "classrooms"- they are not your usual classrooms. They are more than classrooms,they are factories. I call them factories because they are production centers. Here,they proudly display their works. Ranging from drawings to paintings, home cleaning to cookery, gardening to farming, modeling and so on....The list is long.
Secondly,the disabled people are humans. It seems human beings regain their consciousness when they lose it. It is common to find "normal" men and women engage in senseless acts. You might have seen this before. I think we tend to take our "completeness" for granted. For the disabled this isn't the case. They have perfected the art of doing things the right way. These chaps are friendly. They are caring and loving. You know what? They acted as our tour guides. We were moved around the place by them. Methinks this calls for a celebration!
Thirdly,this segment of humanity is part of our social reality. They can't be forgotten or ignored. They have a role to play in the society. They are independent. They can fend for themselves. What they need is the minimum from us the "complete-humans" - train and accept them as humans. Doing this is an obligation. It is a duty on our part.
Fourth,disability is not inability. Disability is just but a creation of the mind. Their ability to perform demonstrated that all humans have their positive side. Even the disabled do have this side. And so this demands that all humanity should "see" each other as a contributor to global growth. This is a clarion call for us all to rally together and forget about divisions or any other challenges. With this, I have a deep conviction that global poverty will be a thing of the past.
Lastly,helping the disabled is not about dishing out foods and clothing.Yes this is good. But this isn't permanent. A helping hand should go beyond giving out goodies. Training and imparting life skills on these chaps is the surest way of helping.And this isn't costly. So as you usher in year 2013 think about training at least one "disabled" person. This will go along way in helping the world than remembering them only during festive seasons.
Apart from this, I gave myself the job of studying these people - their place in the sea of humanity. Let's delve into this to uncover the gold behind these persons.
These are some of the "break-throughs" I got from there.That the disabled are productive.This was contrary to my expectation. I expected to meet disillusioned men and women.I was wrong. They were happy.From their movements and actions you could tell that they had nothing to do with their "incapability". They "forgot" their condition and moved on with life.
We were ushered into their "classrooms"- they are not your usual classrooms. They are more than classrooms,they are factories. I call them factories because they are production centers. Here,they proudly display their works. Ranging from drawings to paintings, home cleaning to cookery, gardening to farming, modeling and so on....The list is long.
Secondly,the disabled people are humans. It seems human beings regain their consciousness when they lose it. It is common to find "normal" men and women engage in senseless acts. You might have seen this before. I think we tend to take our "completeness" for granted. For the disabled this isn't the case. They have perfected the art of doing things the right way. These chaps are friendly. They are caring and loving. You know what? They acted as our tour guides. We were moved around the place by them. Methinks this calls for a celebration!
Thirdly,this segment of humanity is part of our social reality. They can't be forgotten or ignored. They have a role to play in the society. They are independent. They can fend for themselves. What they need is the minimum from us the "complete-humans" - train and accept them as humans. Doing this is an obligation. It is a duty on our part.
Fourth,disability is not inability. Disability is just but a creation of the mind. Their ability to perform demonstrated that all humans have their positive side. Even the disabled do have this side. And so this demands that all humanity should "see" each other as a contributor to global growth. This is a clarion call for us all to rally together and forget about divisions or any other challenges. With this, I have a deep conviction that global poverty will be a thing of the past.
Lastly,helping the disabled is not about dishing out foods and clothing.Yes this is good. But this isn't permanent. A helping hand should go beyond giving out goodies. Training and imparting life skills on these chaps is the surest way of helping.And this isn't costly. So as you usher in year 2013 think about training at least one "disabled" person. This will go along way in helping the world than remembering them only during festive seasons.
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