According to Ali, “The biggest reason is the misconception that disabled people cannot act as active members of society.”
Last week, a TV channel showed a movie based on the life story of Andrew Garfield Clair Foy. The movie sends an inspiring message-how love and determination can rehabilitate the broken spirit of a person who suddenly becomes paralysed while living a vibrant life full of love, sport and work. At the same time, the movie effectively underlines how ‘assistive technology’ played a role in lessening the pain of a paralysed person. A basic assistive device such as a wheelchair releases a physically disabled person from a hospital. The movie showcases the wish of a paralysed person to ‘live like a normal man’ and ‘not just to survive’.
The message of the movie would have felt vague as the incident happened away from our environment. For this reason, there always lurks a suspicion that the account might have been exaggerated. By the end of the movie, I just wondered how many of the thirty million (as reported by WHO) disabled persons in Pakistan have access to a wheelchair, a basic device. More importantly, how many of them who have access to wheelchairs are able to ‘live’ and not ‘just survive’ given the societal behaviour towards persons with disability.
On the same evening, I learnt how a young man under training at the CSS academy in Lahore met an accident and is now using wheelchair for mobility. Many do not think twice about traffic incidents, let alone about victims, especially if the victim is not a relative or a friend. The general reaction is that accidents take place daily, and some victims suffer disability. WHO estimates 7,500-8,000 accidents every year in Pakistan. Some victims survive as disabled. The issue is what kind of attitude these surviving paralysed persons face on a daily basis, how they manage to put up with the insensitive public, and how they feel when friends, relatives and strangers,at times, insinuate that they might have committed some dreadful sin for which they have received this punishment.
Syed Muhammad Fahad Ali survived an accident and shared his powerful feelings in a letter to his friends. His daily experiences sadly mirror the scale of insensitivity prevalent in our society. He agonises that “no one is willing to talk about this big minority; in fact, no one is even willing to acknowledge their existence.” According to Ali, “The biggest reason is the misconception that disabled people cannot act as active members of society.”
To feel the anguish of the wounded spirit that luckily declines to accept humiliation has a bold pen, and hence it is better to probe the recesses of our societal conscience through Ali’s narrative as a disabled person exposed to prejudice that the disabled community experiences in Pakistan on a regular basis.
“I’ve spent twenty-four years and seven months of my life as an able-bodied person and only five months as a person with disability, but the contempt, discrimination and disrespect I’ve experienced in these past five months is more than what I’ve experienced in my entire previous life.
“The world looks very different, both literally and metaphorically, on a wheelchair. Everywhere I go people stare at me as if I’m a clown in a circus”
“The world looks very different, both literally and metaphorically, on a wheelchair. Everywhere I go people stare at me as if I’m a clown in a circus. Ever since I’ve been in the chair, I’ve become the alien, the outcast wherever I go. People in our society are not comfortable with the idea of a wheelchair user living a normal life or being able to express himself or do things that able-bodied people do, which is why there are barely any ramps for the fifteen percent of the population suffering some sort of disability.
“The first time I went to a hospital all eyes were on me even though there were so many other wheelchair users in the hospital, I think it was mostly because I was young and people are not used to seeing young people on wheelchairs. But that was not what bothered me; it was many people saying ‘tauba tauba’ behind my back, as if I was an abomination of nature. No one chooses to become disabled or be on a wheelchair, it can happen to anyone at any time.
“Since that time, I get to hear these remarks whenever I go out. But it was not only the general public who acted this way; many of my friends and relatives passed similar remarks. I also got to hear a good number of amusing stories about why I got the injury; some blamed it on black magic, while the more audacious ones blamed it on my ‘hidden arrogance’ for which God probably punished me.
“Another major thing that I’ve experienced since my injury is the attitude of people towards me. People treat me as if I’ve lost my mental faculties along with my physical injury. Almost no one talks to me directly; they’d ask my family or friends questions regarding me. ‘Inkokyahua?'(What happened to him?) I can very well respond to these questions. Even when going out to shop or eat, people invariably address my companions, not me.
“Another group constantly patronises me; they speak to me as if they were addressing a child. I’m an adult, I don’t need unnecessary pity or sympathy, I’m still capable of looking after myself. All you need to do is to treat the person in a wheelchair normally, like any other individual.
“When in a wheelchair, people do not respect your private space. I can’t count how many times people moved my wheelchair without consent. While I’m on the chair, it is an extension of my body. When someone moves it without consent, it’s a violation of my personal space.
“The worst are the doctors and other clerical staff that I had to deal with since my injury. They speak with you with such scorn that is usually kept reserved for people who owe you money.
“After becoming a CSS officer, people treated me with more deference than usually warranted. After becoming wheelchair bound, I’ve experienced the worst time of disrespect that any human could experience. When in a wheelchair, it doesn’t matter who you are or what you’ve done in life, people only see the chair, not the person sitting on it.”
Ali has opened up “to spread awareness how it is to live on a wheelchair.” Should we continue to disappoint persons like Syed Muhammad Fahad Ali, who despite their disability can serve the country in many ways, is a question that we must ask ourselves. How long would a disabled person be pushed around like a wheelchair in our society? If we fail, we will certainly lose the thread of humanity that binds a herd into a happy society.
The writer is a former ambassador