IELTS exam for study abroad - Disability as Diversity

The issue of disability has long been experienced in human life for ages perhaps from the time the first human creature appeared. Nevertheless, disability has been received and experienced differently by communities as well as individuals whether they are the subject to impairment or they have been or are in contact with a sibling, a friend, a co-worker who has been attributed to be “Disabled”. Back in the Republic Democratic of Congo (DRC) where I am from, the issue of disability is dealt with very differently from what I see here in South Africa. Despite all the riches and minerals that DRC possesses, I can say that my country as a whole has failed people living with disability from the government not providing any form of support to disabled people, to organizations infrastructure being totally unfair in the matter of accessibility for people living with disability, running down to even members of community behaving in un welcoming manners vis a vis people living with disability. DRC is a country of valleys and mountains and it is even hard for a non- disabled person to navigate through the cities and villages on a daily basis. Which makes me wonder how on earth do disabled people even survive in that black whole? I remember when I was young, a cousin of mine who was disabled had to travel miles and miles away by foot, leave alone the fact that he could not operate from his waist to the feet, so he had to scroll for miles from his village and come stay with my family in town. The moment he arrived, I had a chock of my life and I had never seen such pain before because his legs got to a point of bleeding seeing the fact that he had to scroll for miles. In my community, people living with disability do not receive any support from the government hence and the they are not given equal opportunities, the moment you become disabled you are regarded as a disgrace or a result of witchcraft, hence you have to stay locked in your house with no one to advocate for you or even to come for your rescue. In my entire life, I had never seen even one person with a wheel chair, because first I assume there are only valleys and mountains, the roads are not made and this affects people living with disability in my community. My late mother used to be a community leader and she was the one person I saw standing up and acting at least she did the little she could. She would wake up every morning go make a round in the community and take care of the sick and disabled, because no one really care for them and some were even abandoned by their own families, it was a relieve for them to see my mother coming to their rescue, may her soul rest in peace. In my community, Disabled people are seen as unfit, incapable of working and caring for themselves and hence they are deprived with their rights to contribute to the economy of their own country. Brian (2014). Now after seeing and experience South Arica, at first I could say, at least they have better road and they can travel freely, but I came to discover that even with a better developed county like south Africa as compared to my country, there is still a huge gap that need to be filled by the south African government and the south African community as a whole. I remember at DUT where I did my undergraduate degree, one of my classmate who was a wheel chair user ended up de-registering because she could not access the computer labs on the second floor, seeing that there was only stairs to get there. This shows that no matter how governments or institutions may pretend as though there are resources available and accessible out there for people living with disability it all just come back to a loose end, and worse thing is that these institutions do not really want to hear about petitions like these ones because they just too driven by their own agendas and don’t want to deal with these issues. Society has attached to disability the myth of not being able to do something, (Thomas, 2002) emphasizes that many activists have referred to people with disability as being unable to be part of social activities in the community. He further explains how back in 1970s by the fact of being oppressed, disabled people had to create their own organizations and support each other as a way to resist to the oppression that was conducted and in this way they could manage to encourage each other to earn a living and deliver themselves from poverty. Disabled people have been considered to be weak, whether it’s physically or mentally, hence there are deprived and excluded from fully participating in the economy of their countries. They are socially marginalized, sometimes by their own. As a society, we tend not to get “too involved” in disability issues and we use that as a defense mechanism in order to avoid dealing with the real issues at hand. Without realizing it, the way society respond to disability could strongly affect people living with disability. As individuals we all want to add value in any ways we can and from the time a disabled person who had full capacity to add value is deprived of such and considered to be “impaired” and “disabled” at all level, this affect the individual’s self-esteem, they will start to question themselves even though they know very well that they can deliver. On the other hand if the person feels that they can contribute to the development of the society, and they are given this opportunity or at least the freedom of choice, this revive the individuals spirit and make them even more motivated to do better and make a difference. As a young black lady, I have been myself subject to all sort of inequalities and injustices, but I have come to understand that the origin of people’s behavior toward a certain situation could be cultural, it could be based on what they have experienced themselves which led them to react a certain way, etc. For me I believe that we can do better as members of a community to advocate and be a voice to those that are oppressed and marginalized all in the name of being “disabled” and to encourage them to take back their power and be the change they wish to see in the world. References Water Meyer, Brian (2014). Towards a contextual psychology of disabilism. Routledge, London Thomas, C (2002) Disability Theory: Key ideas, issues and thinkers.