LAST week we shared the disabled’s expectations from the new Government and we provided timely advice.
From that article, we received massive response and we now looking forward to hear what the new president will have to say at the inaugural speech.
I was walking on Cairo Road last week when I overheard people talking about the plight of the disabled with one of them saying that these people only need to be institutionalized.
He said that Government needed to provide them with free food and accommodation thinking that they (Disabled) are unable to do anything on their own.
I was touched more especially that both men looked like they are educated who should have focused on discussing the disabled’s ability that makes people think positive about persons with disabilities and support them.
It is also the ability that makes society to see a person before a disability. Yes we can think about the plight of persons with disabilities but our focus should be ability so that we think of real rehabilitation and creation of sheltered employment for them and not free help which has not helped in the past.
Before I forget, allow me to appreciate our keen readers in Zambia, South Africa, Nigeria, Uganda, United States of America, United Kingdom, Germany and Norway who commented on the need to move disabled matters to office of the President.
They also commended Times of Zambia for posting stories online through Times of Zambia official website on www.times.co.zm.
Disability is a negative word which has killed hopes and desires of persons with disabilities around the Global.
I feel that whatever kind of disability one has, let society see the ability of that individual and provide positive support.
Many persons with disabilities have desires and vision they want to achieve in their lives and that desire is to prove to people that they have the ability to do things and become self sustainable.
They also desire to show the world that they could do things that society think they can’t do, though society see their disability and not their ability.
Their truest disability has been the ability to overcome physical disability and my prayer is that my friends around the world believe in this and as soon as people see that persons with disabilities, then they appreciate them.
It is critical to note that there are so many opportunities in life that the loss of two or three capabilities is not necessarily a limiting factor.
Let society give people an opportunity to focus more on ability in persons with disabilities and support them to live independent lives.
For once, let disabled people within communities challenge the need to be heard. To be seen not as a disability, but as a person who has, and will continue to live with a disability.
Let the disabled fight to be seen not only as a disabled person but as a well intact human being with respect and dignity in society.
One thing am sure of is that disabled people need to do something, they have to do the best they know how at the moment and speak with one united voice.
The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much it is whether we provide enough for those who have little.
As the World is trying to construct a more inclusive society, let us make Zambia a country in which no one is left out in terms of development, education, health and employment.
As a disability expert, I have seen that the hardest thing to overcome is not a physical disability but the mental condition because of perception of society.
Until society sees ability in disabled people, the inclusion we talk about will not come soon, I found that the sooner society accepts persons with disabilities and see ability in them the better for Zambia social integration approach.
Being disabled should not mean being disqualified from having access to every aspect of life but the greatest feeling of accomplishment for persons with disability is dependent on ability and how societies will support such.
For me, it is a waste of time for one to be angry about why one was born with a disability, but the important  thing is that let each one get on with life and concentrate on ability because society won’t have time for you if you are always angry.
What may look like compassion to some people looks more like contempt to many disabled people who have too often heard that someone and know what society think about disabled people.
Society must stop believing that disabilities keep a person from doing something independently because that’s not true . . . having a disability does not stop disabled people because they have the ability to do anything although there are many barriers facing people with disabilities today.
The single greatest obstacle they face as a community is their own sense of inferiority, internalized oppression and shame that society has placed on them. Let me say that “disability is not a brave struggle or ‘courage in the face of adversity, but disability is an art of identifying one’s ability and an ingenious way to live.
If any change is going to happen, in Zambia for persons with disabilities, then that change must first start with disabled people themselves.
Secondly, society must change the way they view persons with disabilities and if disabled can ever hope for society to change the way they look at disabled, they must step out of comfort zone and begin to reach for new heights.
The author is a Professor at ICOF Colleges Seminary and Universities School of Disability Studies, Disability policy Analyst for SADC and Inclusive Development Advisor for Centre for Disability Development Research, Law and Policy, Johannesburg
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