■GIRL LIVES NORMAL LIFE DESPITE PHYSICAL DISABILITIES
Ethelyn Villegal Lopez, 16, born with only a left leg and deformed fingers in both hands, endures the persistent teasing and mocking from other children and gets on with her life as a normal person. In her home in Palompon, Leyte, she does what other children do. She helps with household chores, plays with friends and excels in her class. She was in kindergarten when she received an articifial leg through the help of the Department of Social Welfare and Development.
Hala! Pungkol! Pungkol (Look! A cripple! A cripple!)!” This is what a young lady has to put up with every day as she faces challenges brought by her physical disability. It made her think of giving up and that she is useless in this world, but every day, she overcame what other people say about her and continued to live her life just like a normal person.
Having a disability is difficult to embrace but not for this girl from Lomonon, a barangay about seven kilometers away from the town of Palompon, Leyte. Ethelyn Villegas Lopez, 16, was born with only her left leg and deformed fingers in both hands.
Despite this, she does their household chores like washing the dishes, sweeping the floor, and cleaning the house. She plays games with her friends such as “Chinese garter” and “dakop-dakop (hide and seek),” and she continues her studies with flying colors. She is a menopausal baby and the youngest among the 12 children of Silvestra Lopez, a barangay health worker, and Sergio Lopez, who died due to a lung illness on the day of Ethelyn’s elementary graduation.
She walks and climbs for about 20 minutes from her house going to Lomonon National High School, which sits on a hilly part of the barangay, just to attend her classes. She said that she taught herself how to write and read for her to become a businesswoman or a craftswom-
Proclamation No. 361, signed on Aug. 19, 2000, declares the third week of July as the National Disability Prevention and Rehabilitation Week, which shall culminate on the birthdate of the sublime paralytic, Apolinario Mabini, on July 23 each year.
an someday.
Despite her physical disability, Ethelyn manages to be one of the top students in her class. “When she was in grade seven and grade eight, she was an honor student,” Ernilisa Carson, Ethelyn’s grade nine class adviser, said. Unfortunately, she did not make it to the top 10 when in grades four and five because of her frequent absences in school. She could not wear her artificial leg to school due to the painful wounds in her feet.
Daily struggles
A disability affects a person in doing his or her activities. The deformity in her two hands make it difficult for her to wash dishes and do household chores. Her uneven legs gave her a hard time playing with her friends. “Ethelyn is affected by her disability, she couldn’t run as fast as we could when we were playing games but she tried her best to play with us,” shared Judemil Comprado, Ethelyn’s friend.
She was in kindergarten when she received her artificial leg through the help of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD)-Ormoc Hallway Foundation; Since then, she has been using it even though she has outgrown the artificial leg, even when it’s worn out and needs replacement. But since Ethelyn’s family can’t afford to buy a new one, they are waiting for their request for a new artificial leg to be approved.
Overcoming discrimination
“I said to myself that I still have a chance to improve, I still have a purpose in this world,” Ethelyn said in Cebuano. “Dili man gud babag ang disability sa person gud kay naa man gihapo’y
mabuhat sa kalibutan (A disability is not a hindrance for a person because there are still things that we can do),” she added.
“She doesn’t want to feel that she is special. She wants to do what her classmates can do,” Ernilisa Carson said. She added that Ethelyn participates in different activities in their school such as their music, arts, physical education, health (MAPEH) and technology and livelihood education (TLE) culmination activity, where Ethelyn danced together with her classmates.
No need for prosthesis
When asked what lesson she has learned from her struggles, she said: “Salig sa kaugalingon ug sa Ginoo (Trust in yourself and in God).” She believes that God has a purpose for everything.
“Bisan unsang buluhaton kay makaya ra man gihapon bisan pa og ing ani ang kahimtang. (You can do anything even though you are a physically disabled person),” she added.
Ethelyn also has a message to other persons with disability: “Makab-ot ra na nimo ang imong gusto basta maniguro lang. (You can reach your dreams if you just work hard).”
I said to myself that I still have a chance to improve, I still have a purpose in this world ETHELYN LOPEZ, 16 PWD and Student