Disabled people are differently abled

Today, in addition to focusing on the problem of people who are differently abled,  researches are also concerning on the problem of people faced by disabled women, who are  perceived to be doubly disadvantages: first as women secondly as disabled.

In Sri Lanka, people tend to either ignore people with disabilities or to make a big fuss  about them, leading to immense embarrassment for sensitive people. We should aim to  make life for with disabilities. To be singled out in society for being disabled is a form of  discrimination which should be discouraged.

Another aspect of disabilities in the Sri Lankan context, is the plight of the disabled soldiers. They are war heroes at the one level, but in terms of daily life, our society is not geared to look after the disabled. For example public buildings in Sri Lanka rarely have wheelchair access, unlike in developed countries where facilities for disabled are legally enforced in public buildings. Just as assume that they know what women want, so the non-disabled assume that they know what disabled people want.

Worldwide, men and women with disabilities have relatively better life changes today than  a decade or more age. For one thing disabilities has come out into the open. Disable person  have fought the practice of incarceration in residential homes and hospital, a ‘treatment ’which was legitimate. There is sense among the abled-bodied that disabled people need their  protection. Concern with the welfare of disabled people is seen ‘charitable’. Yet these  breakthroughs can only be partially attributed to be a change of heart on the part of the  able-bodied decision makers at national and international level. Achievements and successes  in advocacy work on disability can be attributed in large measure to the efforts and perseverance of group of disabled people. 

However people’s attitudes towards the disabled have been slow in changing. Because of the general discrimination meted out towards the disabled, the message from non-disabled world, towards the disabled is that the lives of the disabled persons are not worth living. Both men and women with disabilities are made to feel ‘different’. They fail to confirm to a traditionally and socially agreed norm of beauty and strength. Pity condescension, embarrassment, or a mixture of the three are the reactions most commonly encountered by men and women who have a disability, from non-disabled people. Many activists believe that disabled people are in some senses considered by able-bodied people to be less than human.