The Disabled And Their Rights
I was inspired to write about the disabled today because of what I saw sometime ago
It was a man whose legs have been amputated and he was left to wander about homeless with no one to cater for him and probably he had no family. He came around begging for alms and someone made a statement which I still dont think was necessary at that moment. He said (I quote) You wont get away from here, that is how you people will all come and beg, when there is crisis, you will all suddenly develop legs and hands and eyes to burn people’s houses and kill innocent souls”
Those words keep ringing bells in my brains and I honestly dont know what to say about what that young man said but here is my 2 cents
I know it is believed in Nigeria that the Hausa’s are tribalistic when it comes to crisis. People believe that giving alms to these poor disabled beggers is not wise because when crisis comes they will suddenly become and do whatever that pleases them. Though I have never seen happen, I have heard people say it has happened in places they know and sometimes to people they have come across in their lives.
These people are littered everywhere in the country and some of them are educated but probably sometime in their live something drastic happened to them for example, an accident.
Some disabled people are people with vast knowledge, they are not able to impact the knowledge of what they know to others because they have not been given a chance to. The disabled could be a Governor, President or whatever he want to be in life. But in our society today, they are regarded as invalids, idle minds. But the question here is “ARE THEY REALLY IDLE MINDS”?
The disabled children and youths in our society today barely get the education they desire because they cant be admitted into a school because of their status, they cant work to pay their fees because they wont be a given a job even though they have the qualification. If only they were given a chance to prove themselves.
There is really not much difference between a disabled and a non-disabled person, we are both equal in GOD’S eye. When GOD created the world, he didnt say the “Abled shall rule over the Disabled”, he created this world to be one in TRUTH, LOVE, PEACE, and UNITY. But our leaders today have decieded to do what they like because they feel they own the universe now. They forget GOD is above all.
These disabled people have rights, equal rights with the abled. They deserve love and care, they deserve the basic ammenities thats in a community.
Lets show love and care to the disabled and you will find out how blessed your life can be.
Be postive about them and you will see they can also CHANGE LIVES
June 16, 2006 at 6:40 am
Thanks for coming by the forum.
Mentioned you in my post
Lynn
June 17, 2006 at 10:29 am
Queen,
your commentary on the disabilities and the political angle to the problem deserves more mileage.
Why not crosspost it on Nairaland and link it to your blog.
Well done.
God bless.
June 17, 2006 at 5:14 pm
True talk. Here in Ghana, a disability bill is before Parliament that would guarantee the rights and protect of the diabled in the society.
Another dimension we must all look at is the fact that many were not born disabled. They’re in that situation due to some accident at some point in their life. Thus, We should all know this and add it to our thought, before we act/react.
June 17, 2006 at 8:48 pm
Yea there are not empty minded and they will never be.I know one day at a tym they ll be giving a chance it’s just a matter of time.
Good write up Queenzy,kip it up.
June 18, 2006 at 11:46 am
A lot lf food for thought…
The disabled deserves our assistance, but not the professional beggars. The political or ethnic question you raised is pregnant with a lot of meanings. We need to exercise a lot of caution here, and may God help us.
June 21, 2006 at 8:49 am
Its unfortunate that in Nigeria we treat the disabled as disposable people. Even the disabled that we don’t see on the streets and probably being taken care of by their families. The UK have a Disability Rights Commision that are responisble for ensuring disability rights are high on the goverment agenda and enable the success of people like David Blunkett, MP and Steven Hawkins.
June 22, 2006 at 10:09 am
I think diability shouldn’t be glorified. Disabled people should be imbued with a sense of pride of being instead of seeing themselves as less priviledged. Losing limbs doesn’t mean that the mental faculties have stopped working. In actual fact, it has been proven that the loss of a body part is usually compensated with more acuity in other body functions. Look at people like Steve Wonder, Ray Charles, look at professors that are crippled?
What I have noticed is that a lot these guys lack education thinking they could go thru live begging. It’s not going to work. The NGOs and everyone should encourage disabled to look inside themselves to what they could use the rest of their organs for and also for them not to see begging as an option.
May the Lord take protect us all.