See them for their abilities
AUTHOR Maya Angelou said: “It is time for parents to teach young people early on that in diversity there is beauty and there is strength”.
Until we can truly celebrate and not just tolerate what makes us different, we will always be divided. And it is not just race, religion, and politics that divide, but also how we treat people of all abilities.
Last year, Unicef (United Nations International Children’s Fund) released a study about Malaysia’s knowledge of and attitudes towards children with disabilities. The findings were not great: 22.8% thought disabilities were the result of God’s will, spirits, curses, parents’ fault, punishment, the environment, or bad feng shui or karma. It is such incorrect information that disables children with disabilities.
It is our own fears that often make children with disabilities invisible, excluded and discriminated against. As highlighted by Deputy Women, Family and Community Development Minister Hannah Yeoh, shame and stigma have resulted in families not registering their children as OKU (orang kurang upaya, or person with disabilities). This has to stop. There’s no shame in having a disability.
Malaysia is running numerous education systems to supposedly cater to the needs of children with disabilities. Do you know we have mainstream, special, integrated and inclusive education systems?
Studies from Australia, Europe, and the United States have proven that it is cheaper to run just one inclusive education system that is fit for all children. The International Labour Organisation has estimated that the cost of excluding children with disabilities from mainstream education could be up to 7% of GDP in low- and middle-income countries.
When we put children with disabilities in “special” schools, it is not always in their best interest. By doing so, we exclude them from their peers and society. Exclusion leads to segregation, which creates isolation. We will be a society divided, without social cohesion.
I think the issue is we use the word “special” too much. We think children with disabilities are “special” but to the point that they need to be separated from everybody else and given “special” things. For instance, they are given a “special” education, “special” friends, a “special” home and “special” jobs.
Children with disabilities don’t want their disabilities to be viewed as “special”. They want to be treated like everybody else. They want access to the same education, the same friends, the same homes, and the same jobs as everybody else. There’s the Malay saying “tak kenal, maka tak cinta” (we can’t love what we don’t know). We do not get to know them, therefore we isolate and fear them.
A disability is not the only thing that makes a disabled person “special”. They have abilities just like everybody else – they want you to see them for their abilities, not for their disabilities. They have rights to the same things as everyone else: education, health, protection, and care.
Yes, we are different, but we must learn that our differences are strengths, not weaknesses. Acknowledging, respecting and valuing our differences is what makes Malaysia diverse and unique – that is the Malaysia I know and love.
Yesterday was International Day of Persons with Disabilities. To mark the day, we need to stop focusing on our differences. Instead, we should celebrate all that we have in common. Inclusion is every child’s right, not privilege.
We are all special!
Lisa Surihani National Ambassador for Unicef in Malaysia