CHANGE: AN OPEN DOOR FOR A BETTER LIFE
Everyone deserves to be happy. Everyone has the right to be treated as a human being, with awareness, needs and sensitivity. Yet, many of us are being deprived of the right to have something we deserve because of some factors that separate us from others like poverty, illiteracy, disability, and the like. For this reason, we tend to limit ourselves to where we are or what we have. We stop dreaming, forgetting the fact that we can still create something new, our capabilities can still be enhanced and we can still do a lot of things more than what we have at present.
One of the most common but probably, unseen examples is the situation of persons with disability (PWD’s) in the Philippines. People treat them as if they have no potential in doing things just like any other people without disability. The Philippine government has been approving laws on discounts and other benefits, yet, is not focusing on education and employment, which would certainly help the PWD’s to be more encouraged and to prosper on their own, not feeling the pity from the people around them. In addition, companies in the Philippines have also been depriving the PWD’s to prove themselves. For instance, a lot of visually impaired have been very excellent in terms of communication, however, call centers cease to hire them just because they don’t want to install JAWS (Job Access With Speech), a screen-reader in order for persons with visual impairment to work on the computer.
PWD students have also been encountering discrimination from schools. They have been very determined to secure a degree, yet, some schools have been turning them down because they lack the awareness and facilities to handle students like these. This is the very reason why most of the PWD’s possess a very low self-esteem and just feeling the self-pity, blaiming themselves for being disabled, having the thought of a useless life. The right to be educated is taken away from them, and so what they have in mind is to limit the things they could do, knowing the fact that doing their best would result to nothing, for people around them would not be willing to give them the chance to prove themselves in terms of education and employment.
Definitely, the worst of all, the families of some persons with disability are part of the society that discriminate them. There are some cases wherein a family would not let their family member who is a person with disability go out, believing that it is a shame to have a family member of this kind. This case would certainly lead to a downfall for a person with disability, for even the persons who should lavish the encouragement and support that he or she needs have been pushing him or her down, showing him or her that he or she doesn’t deserve to live.
We may not be aware of what is being presented above, but these ones are factual. If only every person sees this truth and finds solutions to these problems, surely, everyone will live a better life. PWD’s do not need discrimination or pity. What they need is their right. The right to be treated just like any other person with complete ability. They hunger for the chance to prove themselves, to enhance their skills, to be more competent, to be heard and to gain respect despite the fact of having a different ability. In general, what they need is a change on people’s perspective towards them. A change that will open the door for persons with disability to grow and live a normal life.
