Full Actualization for Disability

The secrets of people's minds

I have met different people with different attitudes, education backgrounds, of different economic status and those with potential political powers. They perceive practical concept of disability differently and in novel ways.

I happened to get chance to discuss disability matters with a senior journalist in Dar Es Salaam. I asked him many questions, and at last I suggested to him that it was still a problem, and they (journalists) had to vehemently and progressively write about the key issues about people with disabilities so as to create an inclusive nation in which people could think, act and react inclusively. Unconsciously, the man replied:

“We have written a lot, we have spoken a lot about disability and people with disabilities; we are now turning on to see other things; not disability issues any more. Moreover, when people with disabilities are given chances to speak or write, they just end up lamenting about their conditions, thinking that the society will have sympathy and empathy over them.”

I quickly grasped something about this conversation

1.    Most people do not like affairs of people with disabilities; they just imitate as if they know and take considerations about people with disabilities. The reality is that, they are forced by their positions and social realities of the immediate contexts.

2.    Most people who engage themselves to disability affairs are after benefits. No benefits- no services.

3.    Most people consider disability as it is there for few disadvantaged people who are naturally recruited by nature.

4.    The massive negative attitudes about people with disabilities are powerful to the extent that they result into policies and other legal inequalities to people with disabilities as they operate from grassroots of the societies to national wise.

The technical problem most people fail to understand is that, disability can be encountered at any stage of life; and the most powerful fact is that, the more a person becomes old, the more the chances for acquiring disabilities it becomes.

Schools and People with Disabilities

People with disabilities in Tanzania

The schools all over the world are nothing rather than to be pilot areas into which the chosen, preferable cultures and values of the society are enumerated and handled down from them. The burning and immediate issues are also dealt with here.

 The schools should therefore act as the centers in which people are prepared for life-long advocacy activities. They should enable individuals acquire full independence and self-advocacy. The most important, the national political figures like presidents, kings, queens, ministers, governors, and many others with high societal influences should have positive attitudes towards disability and people with disabilities. Their attitudes may accidentally become national policies and legal documents. It is the role of schools to configure and mold all people in our societies so as to perceive the concept of disability positively. Hence, there will be accessible society for all.

Conclusion

Every human being is a prime victim of disability; disability is not inability; human beings have natural rights for being born people and by people; and the rights of people with disabilities are the human rights. Humanistic approach is to be put at first place in any matters relating human activities and decisions.

Thank you for your participation!