Differently Abled
February 4, 2008One cause of my great discomfort over the past few weeks is the presence of one person in our house, one who many will brand as disabled. He is in our residence assisting us in our chores while members of our family are occupied.
He has only one leg, the other one was lost in an automobile accident a long time ago. He finished his education up until the college level graduating BS Biology in a college in his place of origin.
I loathe the idea that all we can do for him is to offer him odd jobs during these difficult times. To give him a golden parachute in the form of a loan would be unethical, and unduly taxing our finances. To maintain him as house help and odd-job man takes away opportunities from him.
I do not feel pity for him. Pity is demeaning. I feel regret. I regret that the entire system of living is still pretty much Darwinian, the fittest shall survive. I regret that because of a single incident in his life everything has changed. I do not blame him for toughening up and finding employment or engaging in some business because he has already done that and those ventures have failed.
I am not going to denounce the government or our way of life. The status quo is something that I regret but it is something that I acknowledge. It would take a monumental effort to shift all of that inert mass into action. The government is already overdrawn, it needs every person to be as productive as humanly possible. I am not seeking justice or equality or equity. I am not going to beg the government for dole outs on his behalf. All I am asking is that the people and businesses familiarize themselves with possibilities of employment or extending lines of credit for people that are differently abled.
It is my opinion that people lacking a limb or unable to fully employ all of their human faculties are not disabled. They are not weights with with which to slow down the economy. They are not seething pools of self-pity. I do not believe these brothers and sisters of ours deserve to be treated as "special" members of society because they have met with accidents or the fates conspired not to grant them abilities such as ours. Our brothers and sisters who have not full command of their body and thought are differently abled. I believe that they still can. Certain enterprises also believe that these people still can, I have heard stories of Lamoiyan Corporation, manufacturers of Hapee Toothpaste employing several of our differently abled brothers and sisters.
I call out to the owners and employers to consider these people when filling positions. They are capable in one way or another of fulfilling tasks. One may try to shape them into any form possible away from militant unions.
These differently abled people can be utilized to their full potential because some of them have had so little in life that they will be willing to sacrifice life and remaining limbs for the good of the enterprise that provided them with the dignity of work or the capital for business.
I hope that in the future we will no longer look upon our differently abled brothers and sisters with pity but with clear eyes. I hope that in the future we will think out of the box and be able to employ them in positions that would best fit their abilities or grant them assistance in establishing their own productive ventures.
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