A blessing in disguise for disabled

Pembebasan dan Pembangunan, Perjuangan Penyandang Cacad di Negara-Negara Berkembang, (Liberation and Development, Struggle Waged by the Disabled in Developing Countries); By Peter Coleridge; Translated by Omi Intan Naomi; Pustaka Pelajar Yogyakarta, in cooperation with Oxfam and LPC4 Dria Manunggal, 1997; 326 pp + xvi; Rp 15,000

YOGYAKARTA (JP): Knowingly or otherwise, development is often reduced to merely an attainment of physical and economic changes as well as national stability.

As a result, success in building imposing buildings or in campaigning for national stability is often deemed enough.

At the same time, human development stops short at mere slogans, while the development of the disabled is almost unheard of.

If there is any development at all, disabled people simply receive whatever is decided for them. They are never involved in the decision-making process.

The disabled are considered helpless, ignorant and deserving of pity, according to the foreword to Liberation and Development (Struggle Waged by the Disabled in Developing Countries).

The book, originally written by Peter Coleridge, describes the struggle waged by the disabled in developing countries such as Zanzibar, Zimbabwe and India through interviews with disabled people and those on the management boards of rehabilitation institutes.

Venkatesh, director of Action on Disability and Development (ADD) in India shares his views. He is blind from retinitis pigmentosa, a pigmentation of the retina.

In his opinion, disability is a problem which is both social and personal in nature.

He maintains that the way nondisabled people treat the disabled usually hampers the latter's progress because there is no room given for the disabled to contribute to society.

Progress is also hampered because disabled people too often think of themselves as incapable of achievement.

How should disabled and nondisabled people cope with the problems of disability? The book reveals a great scope of blessings in disguise that can be enjoyed by the disabled. Disabled people have the opportunity to express themselves while not being placed in a position where they are merely the objects of charity.

While charity is a virtue, it must empower people.

Empowerment has given many disabled people the chance to be successful in various aspects of life. The book presents some success stories related to this.

One such story tells about Samir Ghosh of Jemshedpur, India. At the age of eight he had his arms amputated. For his parents, this was both a disaster and a shame. They tried to confine Samir to his home and did not allow him to go to school. Samir, however, resisted such treatment.

He continued to go to school despite his parents' prohibition. He used his feet to do everything, including taking notes. Luckily, he was accepted as he was at school. His friends supported him and gave him lecture notes until he became skillful enough to write with his feet.

Samir eventually completed secondary school and proceeded to pursued his studies at the London School of Economics, where he earned a doctorate.

Now he is a senior management consultant in a company in England. He skillfully uses his feet to eat, write, drive a car and do many other activities.

This example clearly shows that the best solution to problems encountered by disabled people come from the realization by nondisabled and disabled people that disabilities always provide a blessing in disguise.

In Indonesia, many people look down on the disabled. Disabled children are considered a disgrace to the family and a harbinger of bad luck. Frequently, parents remove disabled children from their family.

To illustrate the condition in Indonesia, the book brings up an example taken from the 1980s film Luka di atas Luka (Wound over a Wound).

In the film, a disabled child of Ratih and Ferdi is never called by its name, but rather "that child". The parents refuse to accept the disabled child's presence in the family. The mother is also blamed as the cause of this disgrace.

The film reflects the reality in our society, the fact that parents generally do not accept the presence of their disabled children.

In the Indonesian language, "disabled people" is translated into penyandang cacad, or literally "one who suffers from a disability". This clearly shows that people here believe that a disability is something one suffers from, a frame of mind not conducive to empowering disabled people.

In the context of the Indonesian language, unless you use penyandang cacad you will have to describe a disabled person lengthily as "people who sustain a certain handicap or functional deficiency in their body, so that they are less able or unable to carry out certain activities which can generally be carried out by other people not experiencing this handicap or functional deficiency" (p. 135).

Unfortunately, except for penyandang cacad, which does not sound quite favorable, there are no other names in the Indonesian vocabulary like "disabled people".

Another interesting point that the book raises is the fact that Indonesians call nondisabled people "normal people".

The opposite, "abnormal people", is thus connoted for disabled people.

Such an attitude about disability is the creation of society. The book rejects such views of disabilities.

Liberation and Development is different from the original version in that it presents the topic in the context of Indonesia. Nevertheless, the soul of the original book remains.

The book's message may strengthen the conviction of social observers and social workers already choosing the "path of disability", as the author of the book has done.

-- E. Dapa Loka

The reviewer is a freelance writer in Yogyakarta.