Voice 1
Hello. I’m Marina Santee.
Voice 2
And I’m Rachel Hobson. Welcome to Spotlight. This programme uses a special English method of broadcasting. It is easier for people to understand, no matter where in the world they live.
Voice 3
‘Happy are the people who understand my strange step, when walking, and my heavy hands.
Happy are the people who know that my ears need strengthening to understand what is said.
Happy are the people who understand that though my eyes shine, my mind is slow.
Happy are the people who listen to me, because I have something to say.
Happy are the people who know what is in my heart, though I could not express it.
Voice 1
These are words from a poem called ‘Bienaventurados’. The word is Spanish for, ‘happy’ or ‘blessed.’ The poem’s writer sent this poem to a group in Argentina - the National Association of the Promotion of Disabled Persons. The writer of the poem is very skilled. The writer is also disabled.
Voice 2
December the third is the International Day of Disabled Persons. There are many kinds of disabilities. Some people have physical disabilities - they may be blind, deaf, or not able to walk. Other people have mental disabilities - their brains act differently in some way.
Voice 1
Some people do not like the word ‘disabled’ because it is negative. It is talking about what a person cannot do. They use the words ‘differently abled’. So how different can a person be - before other people feel uncomfortable - not at ease? Why do differences create barriers? And how do people deal with them? In some parts of the world, this is a very serious issue. In fact, in the worst cases, differences lead to death.
Voice 2
Theodory Mwalongo works for ADD - Action on Disability and Development. ADD is an international development group. Theoodory is ADD’s representative in Tanzania. He told a shocking story. It is about the power of attitudes towards disability.
The story is sad. It is happening in the twenty first century. It is happening in our communities to people with disabilities. It is not only in many places of Tanzania. It is also in other parts of the world.
Voice 4
Sunday the second of September, 2007. A six year old child is murdered. Police report that the murderer is her father. The little girl was born disabled. Reports say that the father blamed the mother for giving birth to her. The father said it was an evil curse on the family. He said that he would kill the child one day.
Reports say that the little girl was outside playing on the day of her murder. She was playing hide and seek with other children. Her father hit her with a heavy object. He hit her head until the life left her. The other children cried for help. People in nearby houses came. The father was taken to the police station. Reports say that he had been drinking alcohol. And he admitted to killing his daughter. He said he did it to clean his family of the evil curse from her birth.
ADD Tanzania is working with the Tanzania Federation of Disabled People. They issued a joint Press Statement. It condemned the killing of the innocent child.
Voice 1
Reports like these are rare. But there are many other similar cases in countryside areas. There is a long way to go in changing attitudes towards disabled people. Where did the father’s opinion come from? Well, some old traditions tell people that disabled children are a curse from God. Yet across the world the mothers of many disabled children disagree. They say their children are a blessing. They say that life is a blessing - a blessing from God.
Voice 2
For International Day of Disabled Persons, we give some time to listen to the words of the experts in this subject - those with disabilities. First, a poem translated from Maritza Melara Castillo in El Salvador.
Voice 5
‘I cannot run.
Yet each road has its goal.
I cannot dance to rock and roll, or jazz and pop.
And yet I enjoy the music so much.
I cannot walk alone to the edges of the sea
Yet the deep movement of the waves encourages me.
The sunset amazes me.
The hugeness of the sky and water shake me.
To sit on the sand, to see the birds, to greet the sun.
To listen to the silence...to laugh - and to cry.
To smile at someone passing by. To speak your name.
To feel you melt me with your look. Discover me behind the image, bend my defences.
I hear your voice.
How small and huge I am.
I make the moon mine when I dream.
Behind my defences.
Still, I know that I have loved. I have felt. I have loved. I have lived it all.
And even more. Lover, I think there is still more.
Voice 1
Carolyn Vash is a doctor of psychology - a study of the mind. She became a doctor after being disabled by polio. People know her for her expertise and knowledge, not her disability. She talks about the power of attitudes towards disability. She said:
Voice 6
‘Attitudes drive our behaviour. What we believe and how we feel largely controls what we do. Our behaviour then reinforces our beliefs and feelings’.
Voice 2
Knowing someone is one of the best ways to break down barriers of fear and difference. It is one of the best ways to change people’s attitudes. Together, knowledge and understanding can remove the fear of differences. They can make individuals and communities change and grow. They can help people to see the humanity that connects all beings -whatever their differences. We finish with some more words from our opening poem - Bienaventurados.
Voice 3
‘Happy are the people who see me and love me as I am, as I alone am. And not as some would want me to be.
Happy are the people who help me in my life’s trip towards the home of my heavenly father.’
|