Addressing the Welfare & Rights of the Disabled
With Equal Access and Opportunities, No Persons will be Disabled
Apr 14, 2009
As a result of the unending discrimination against persons with disabilities, disability groups and organisations continue to work in diverse ways to secure the needs, rights, welfare and the proper care of the disabled in society. Such groups and organisations have always emphasised that, in fact, ‘disability’ is a social construction and that if all persons are given equal and fair opportunities every individual, regardless of their physical state, can play a meaningful role in society.
Equal Access and Opportunities for the Disabled
Contrary to the Medical Model, the Social Model of disability emphasises that it is our societies that have created conditions to make some people unable to function fully and hence being deemed disabled. In other words, equal access and opportunities for all individuals,no matter their abilities or disabilities, would result in a situation where none would be disabled.
A number of persons with disabilities who have had opportunities to go to school, no matter the difficulties they may have gone through, have proven that being blind, deaf, crippled or otherwise disabled, should not be a barrier or basis for discrimination. This is clearly captured in a statement often made by the Ghana Federation of the Disabled that says: Disability is not Inability. Several blind, deaf and cripples have become top lawyers, architects, businessmen or women as well as top civil or public servants across the world.
Thanks to the efforts of organisations like the Canadian Centre on Disability Studies (CCDS), a lot is being done to bring about changes in policies and practices that do not promote the interest and well-being of persons with disabilities.
Significantly, through partnerships with a number of educational institutions, CCDS has initiated Disability Studies in a number of Universities. For example, the Universities of Manitoba and Winnipeg in Canada currently have courses in Disability Studies at the graduate and undergraduate levels respectively. The introduction of such courses only points to a future of hope for persons with disabilities though there is still more work to be done.
Different Forms of Discrimination against the Disabled
Depending on different cultural practices, levels of development and legislation, persons with disabilities in different parts of the world face different forms of discrimination. In most African communities for example, disability is sometimes associated with supernatural forces.
In some instances, disability is blamed on wizardry on the part of the disabled person, a family member or an entire family. In some cases too, it is blamed on alleged past cruel or bad deeds by the disabled persons’ forebears. Under such circumstances, the affected persons usually get no help and if their families are poor, life becomes unbearable.
Matters get worse when the discrimination emanates from within the disabled person’s family. The combined effects of neglect by family and/or society, stigmatisation and poverty sometimes lead to deaths or very bad living conditions among persons with disabilities in most traditional African communities.
Disabled Lifts, Ramps and Access
In several countries especially in the poor countries of Africa, there are no learning facilities for persons with disabilities. Universities continue to admit persons with disability without clear disability policies and programmes. There are usually no lifts and ramps for the disabled thus limiting their access to numerous facilities like libraries, lecture halls, accommodation and more.
Most, if not all public buildings and facilities in poor countries, do not have disabled lifts and access ramps. This makes access to high rise buildings literally impossible. In cases where persons with disabilities have to access such buildings as a matter of necessity, they do so with extreme difficulty and that is even when a generous ‘abled’ colleague decides to offer a generous helping hand.
Transportation for Persons with Disabilities
Yet another major challenge faced by persons with disabilities is transportation. In developing countries and even in some developed countries, transportation is not made easily accessible to persons with disabilities. Where buses may be easily available, there may not be provisions for people in wheelchairs, no access ramps and other necessary facilities. These and many others are the problems that need to be addressed by policy makers and governments to make life easier for all.
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