Paraplegic meets life's challenges<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): The ultimate challenge for a handicapped person
\nis showing that they are worth their weight in gold, just as 29-
\nyear-old Osmiyati has done.<\/p>\n
A paraplegic, Osmiyati uses a wheelchair while working as a
\ntelephone operator at the office of the giant Arco oil company or
\nwhile running a small restaurant, which she jointly owns with her
\nfriends.<\/p>\n
Osmiyati, who is affectionately known to her friends as Miya,
\nhas suffered from paraplegia for the past nine years, after a
\ntragic accident in the hilly West Java town of Sukabumi, some 120
\nkilometers south of here.<\/p>\n
To Miya, Sept. 24, 1989, is an unforgettable day. She and 50
\nother friends were on their way home from a camping trip, when
\nthe truck they were riding on skidded and crashed into a cliff,
\nkilling four of her friends and injuring several others,
\nincluding herself.<\/p>\n
Recovering from her injury, Miya was confronted with the
\nbitter fact that would be all an attractive, energetic girl could
\nbear: The lower part of her body was paralyzed. In her despair,
\nshe quit her studies at the ASMI secretarial academy and began to
\navoid her friends.<\/p>\n
Miya's life underwent great changes -- from enjoying her
\noutdoor youthful life to following therapy sessions, from lively
\nmountain climbing to sitting bored in her wheelchair. But her
\nparents had always encouraged her to accept the reality of life
\nand to never give up hope.<\/p>\n
It took her parents seven long years before they finally
\nsucceeded in restoring Miya's self-confidence.<\/p>\n
\"I then realized that I could not always depend on my parents
\nfor the rest of my life,\" she told The Jakarta Post.<\/p>\n
\"I will be a burden to them and I won't have a future if I
\nrely too much on them,\" Miya said confidently.<\/p>\n
She asked her parents's permission to let her stay at the
\nJakarta Wisma Cheshire, an infirmary for paraplegics funded by
\nthe London-based Leonard Cheshire Foundation, on Jl. Wijaya
\nKusumah, South Jakarta.<\/p>\n
At the Wisma, Miya and 30 other paraplegics learn how to take
\ncare of themselves.<\/p>\n
More than once she fell from her wheelchair while taking a
\nbath and had to grapple with whatever she could reach before
\ngetting back on the chair. At first, it was quite an effort but
\nnow she can easily take a bath herself.<\/p>\n
She has been staying at the Wisma for 18 months now and is
\nplanning to leave soon. Not only has she recovered her
\nconfidence, but she has also had a great deal of training on how
\nto move around freely in the wheelchair.<\/p>\n
She spends her leisure time visiting shopping malls and
\ntheaters. She does not hesitate to ask help from passersby
\nwhenever she needs it.<\/p>\n
She complains, however, that the government has not provided
\nenough public facilities for physically handicapped people.<\/p>\n
She also plans to finish her secretarial studies.<\/p>\n
One of her burning desires is to become a legislator so that
\nshe could fight for the interests of physically handicapped
\npeople in Indonesia.<\/p>\n
She said at the end of the interview: \"If you have relatives
\nor friends who suffer from paraplegia, don't hesitate to tell
\nthem to visit the Wisma so that we can help them to be more self-
\nreliant.\" (04)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/paraplegic-meets-lifes-challenges-1447893297",
"image": ""
},
"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}