What is disability? According to the World Health Organization, a disability is “any restriction or lack (resulting from any impairment) of ability to perform an activity in the manner or within the range considered normal for a human being.” To simply put this, a disability limits a person’s movements, sense or activities due to their physical or mental impairment.
Based on the results of the 2000 Census of Population and Housing (Census 2000), the total number of persons with disability (PWDs) was posted at 942,098 or about 1.23 percent of the total population in the Philippines. Of the total persons with disability, 473,332 (50.24 percent) were females and 468,766 (49.76 percent) were males. Three out of eight (37.41 percent) PWDs had low vision. This was followed by partial blindness (8.14 percent), mental illness (7.14 percent), and mental retardation (7.02 percent). Those with multiple impairments comprised 2.92 percent. In 1995, low vision (34.09 percent) was also the most common type of disability followed by partial blindness (8.61 percent), partial deafness (7.57 percent), paralysis of one or both legs (6.36 percent), and mental retardation (5.99 percent).
In the Philippines, there are numerous provisions and laws that protects the rights of the Persons With Disabilities (PWDs). These provisions are found under the Republic Act No. 7277, an act providing for the rehabilitation, self-development and self-reliance of disabled persons and their integration into the mainstream of society and for other purposes. This act is known as the Magna Carta for the Disabled Persons. The provisions under this law discusses the rights, privileges, employment, education, health, auxiliary services, telecommunications, accessibility, prohibition on discrimination against disabled people, etc.
Among all the provisions under the Magna Carta for the Disabled Persons, what caught my attention the most were the prohibitions on discrimination against disabled persons. I want to focus on these laws as they are the most predominantly violated. Almost everyday, I witness an example of discrimination on transportation against PWDs. Whenever I ride the LRT train, I often see PWDs having a hard time riding the elevator going up the station because of the people without disabilities using them for their own personal convenience. It is a rather indifferent habit of people in the station. The PWDs are then forced to use the escalator instead, which is very hard for them to use especially to those who are using wheelchairs. What I can do about this issue is to talk to the personnel at the train station and point out that the purpose of the elevators are for the PWDs and they should assist them with care.
http://www.ted.com/talks/aditi_shankardass_a_second_opinion_on_learning_disorders.html
After watching this video of Dr. Aditi Shankardass, I am stunned that 1 out of 6 children are suffering from developmental disorders. And what’s more perplexing is that a lot of children diagnosed with autism, language disorder, mental retardation, etc. were actually misdiagnosed. After coming up and experimenting with the EEG device, neuroscientists have discovered that a shocking number of misdiagnosed patients were actually suffering from brain seizures that are not seen to the naked eye. It uses brain waves to detect the abnormalities and diagnose the disorder.
It’s important for everyone to protect the rights of the Persons With Disabilities just as we protect our own rights. They are not different from us. They are still God’s creation and should be treated the same way as we treat ourselves and others.
