Caring for special people

The media is largely responsible for the ever-widening gap between promises and reality


September 20, 2021

According to the 2017 census, there are less than one million disabled persons in Pakistan. Governments, private businesses and organisations are supporting special persons in various ways —most importantly by providing them jobs and necessary facilities. Societies the world over have realised that disability is not an insurmountable difficulty and special persons are as valuable for society as any other person. President Arif Alvi has called upon business houses and industrialists to employ special persons in their organisations to make them financially independent so that they can contribute to family income.

We all agree that special people need to be properly given gainful employment and society should take care of their special needs. However, what is of utmost importance is to avoid showing pity to special people because the show of pity, in most circumstances, all human beings despise — it is demeaning and causes inferiority complex in those who are pitied. Governments at different levels and private organisations have fixed certain quotas in jobs for people suffering from various types of physical disabilities and psychological problems. Governments and the private sector frequently announce that the physically disabled will be provided facilities like ramps, elevators and wheelchairs, etc. These promises seldom translate into reality. This also applies to announcements about reservations in jobs. It is not enough to make promises and announcements. People remain in the dark as to any follow-up actions on these pious declarations. The media is largely responsible for the ever-widening gap between promises and reality.

Special people should not be made to feel that the world has not been organised to take their needs into account. This perception can be removed by meeting their needs. There are great shining examples of the wheelchair-bound physicist Stephen Hawking and the blind, deaf and dumb Helen Keller. Disability did not hinder them in their intellectual pursuits as they have left deep footprints on the sands of time.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, September 20th, 2021.

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