Financial Times

Who are differently challenged?
By Random Access Memory (RAM)
RAM knew Ajith in the 1980's when he was an active member of the Association for the Advancement of Science, the Institute of Chemistry and more so a passionate lover of cricket.

By 1992, Ajith was a practising Chemist, who also passed exams in England as a Cricket umpire, scorer, trainer and examiner. He was just a week away from umpiring in his first cricket test match between Sri Lanka and New Zealand, when it was all taken away from him with a tree falling on his moving vehicle on the Bullers Road in Colombo. His driver died an instant death and Dr. Ajith was confined to a wheel chair for the rest of his life.

Today, Dr. Ajith is differently challenged. His mobility is impaired but his spirit and will to achieve new heights in life, remain strong and potent. He has become a passionate champion of the rights of the likes of him.

He is thankful that there are programmes to provide housing facilities to solders that lost their limbs in a meaningless war, hold special sports meets, enable playing wheel chair tennis and stage other events that draw media attention.

While all this is desirable, what he yearns for most, is to have the ability for him and the many hundreds of thousands like him who live in Sri Lanka, to be able to lead in the least, near normal lives. "We do not ask for any special favours or for society to pity us. What we seek is a societal environment in which we can perform as anyone else.

Although I am a qualified chemist able to perform productive tasks in my profession, I have not been gainfully unemployed since my recovery from the accident in 1992. No one has the confidence to give me an opportunity as they themselves feel insecure in having a person like me around.

Most work places also do not facilitate employing a person like me. In the general environment, except for a few places that are wheel chair friendly, I am unable to spend time out of my home on my own, shop or bank for myself, take a vacation at a hotel or resort, visit restaurants for meals or take a 'stroll' in open spaces where most others walk, jog or exercise," he says.

If Dr. Ajith was travelling in Australia, most of Europe or the USA, he would certainly be able to lead a near normal life. After a chat with Dr. Ajith one begins to wonder if the ones who are differently challenged or are 'disabled' are indeed us and not the ones on the wheel chairs or use Jaipur feet.

If we were able to create a societal environment for persons like Dr. Ajith to have access and mobility to at least the bare essentials in our living environment, then they need not be differently challenged.

If we were able to treat persons the likes of Dr. Ajith as equals and shunned our prejudices, then the likes of him would be gainfully engaged in contributing to society. We are today a long way away from such a scenario.

In a world where more than 60 per cent of the population will soon be senior citizens needing assistance and care, the call is for our policymakers, investors, architects, urban planners, builders and facilities developers to think differently.

It will make good business sense for us to think of providing special facilities such as ramps, specially designed doorways, toilets, accessible paved ways at public buildings, roads, restaurants, hotels and resorts. We then do not have to ask ourselves the question as to who indeed are differently challenged; those impaired or us that think, we are not?

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