Living with Disabilities in Sri Lanka
Photo courtesy of Uniting World
Today is the International Day of Persons with Disabilities
Varuni has had to use crutches from childhood. She met all her developmental milestones except walking on time and even that delay shortened once she received the crutches she needed. When it was time for school, she met a new barrier. The principal of the nearest school refused to admit her because of the way she walked. At their next attempt at entering a school, her father began the interview apologetically. “My daughter has a problem with her leg.” The principal stopped him gently. “Does she learn with her leg?”
With that simple question, a door opened – one that gave Varuni access to an opportunity that universal education promises every child in Sri Lanka. Varuni graduated from university and is now seeking employment.
This is just one story, a story among many of lives shaped not only by disability but by society’s perception of disability. The doors that open or close depend far more on society’s perception of disability than on disability itself.
According to the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), a person with a disability is “someone with a long-term physical, mental, intellectual, or sensory impairment which, in interaction with barriers, may hinder full and effective participation in society on an equal basis with others.”
Varuni was denied access by one school and welcomed by another. Her experience reflects the heart of the UNCRPD definition: disability is not the impairment alone but it is also what happens when an impairment meets a barrier that prevents full and effective participation.
The UNCRPD was developed from the voices of persons with disabilities and organizations representing them. Their message is universal: the desire for dignity, respect and opportunity is shared by all people. We are human beings first.
Living marginalized
Varuni’s disability is visible although not every person living with a disability lives with a visible disability. Shanaka lost his sight because of an accident. He doesn’t use a white cane to help him navigate the environment and has trained himself to live independently, learning how to use public transport to travel to work, to meet his friends and come back home. One day he was on the bus and he reached out to feel for his bag when he unfortunately touched the bag of the person next to him, sparking a fight and facing disbelief at his impairment until he was able to show a published description of himself in his poetry book. Misgivings like this can become barriers of their own creating distrust, fear and exclusion.
Sometimes the barriers are even subtler – invasive questions, assumptions about karma, curiosity disguised as concern on how one goes about the day to day of living. Each experience chips away at dignity when identity is seen only through the lens of disability. Respect must begin with recognizing personhood first, with disability as one part of a whole life, not the defining feature.
Other barriers that marginalize such as the physical environment, buildings and pathways, with thoughtful adjustments need not be barriers at all. It is the law in Sri Lanka that the architecture of every new building should include accessibility provisions like ramps with appropriate gradient to help a wheelchair manoeuvre, lifts to reach upper floors, accessible toilets that can be reached with ease and railings at staircases – a few of the most pertinent requirements. The Protection of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act No. 28 of 1996 states that “No person with a disability shall, on the ground of such disability, be subject to any liability, restriction or condition with regard to access to, or use of, any building or place which any other member of the public has access to or is entitled to use, whether on the payment of any fee or not.” Based on this law are the Disabled Persons (popularly known as the Accessibility Regulations) Regulations No. 1 of 2006 applying to public buildings, public places including parking areas, common service areas, pathways and corridors, pavements, ground surfaces, pedestrian crossings, handrails, stairs/steps, ramps, lifts/elevators, doorways and entrances, toilets and public transport facilities (including bus stops and railway stations).
Yet Surani’s experience is of buses not stopping for her at bus stops. When they see her and her crutches, they speed away knowing that there will be just that little extra time for her to get on and off the bus. There is no bus in Sri Lanka that has wheelchair access, and transport is a necessity to travel to school and to work. What reasonable accommodations can we make to change this?
In schools marginalization is addressed with extra help, trained teachers and extra time at exams. Discussions continue about whether there should be specialized schools or integrated schools. While there are convincing arguments for both sides and active measures to improve both, there is still a distance to go before progress is sufficient. And in the meantime, students with disabilities continue to learn and succeed in education. For people with intellectual disabilities or where communication is difficult, the correct attention is needed at critical points. There are people with intellectual disabilities gainfully employed in education, hospitality, IT and many other fields. Based on their interests and skills, they have integrated into both manufacturing and service sectors. Given the opportunity, many more will. The disability doesn’t matter; how the door opens does. Accessibility and reasonable accommodations can bridge gaps where barriers exist.
The UNCRPD’s Article 2 defines reasonable accommodations as: “Necessary and appropriate modification and adjustments not imposing a disproportionate or undue burden, where needed in a particular case, to ensure to persons with disabilities the enjoyment or exercise on an equal basis with others of all human rights and fundamental freedoms.” The tennis court is a good illustration of reasonable accommodations. Sri Lanka’s wheelchair tennis team has made their mark internationally. Tennis players on wheelchairs play on a doubles court to allow for manoeuvring of the wheelchair. However the height of the net remains the same. With reasonable accommodations such as these, the world of sport is opened. The Para Olympics is just as fiercely contested as the Olympics.
An empowering question would be, what reasonable accommodations are required?
Living empowered
Digital accessibility is afforded when digital environments choose to adopt the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) developed by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) through its Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI). WCAG explains how to make websites, web apps and online documents accessible for people with disabilities, including visual, auditory, cognitive, physical, neurological or speech impairments, and also helps older users or those with changing abilities. Digital literacy and digital use afford assistive devices and technologies that provide access to more opportunities including employment. And use of technology opens more doors.
Addressing barriers commences with frank discussions with strong representations of persons with disabilities. Voices that advocate for the accommodations needed for greater and greater participation in education, employment, sports and creative endeavours and social circles in particular. It is in this spirit that the GIZ-VTSL project in partnership with the Ministry of Education, Higher Education, and Vocational Training celebrated a day under the theme Embracing Diversity: Skills and Work for Persons with Disabilities. Twenty three companies stepped forward to interview 250 candidates, some of whom were graduates, some with certificate course and diploma course, all of them skilled, all of them ready to learn and be trained, all of them motivated to work, all of them living with disabilities. The 24th company stepped forward to assist with transportation.
Together we are strong
The current statistics on the number of persons living with disabilities in Sri Lanka are from 2012. The Department of Census and Statistics is dated 2012 and states 8.7% of Sri Lankans are living with disabilities. It is important to know this basic bit of information because the reality of the experience becomes clearer. That is nearly one in ten – one in ten students, employees and employers, family members, neighbours and friends may experience marginalization not because of their bodies or minds but because systems around them are not built to include them or ensure rights are not denied.
What will it take to help our society move beyond sympathy to consistently meaningful actions that removes barriers, enables access and dignity and respect is a felt experience for all? What can each of us do towards this?
How can we make it possible for the Varunis, Suranis, Shanakas of this world to come to leadership positions, to decision making positions, to managerial positions, to employment, to places to entertainment, to competitions, to play areas, to all places that make our lives meaningful so that they can fully and effectively participate?
With reasonable accommodations, this vision can be achieved and Sri Lanka will become more inclusive for persons living with disabilities. Disability then would no longer be a label that marginalizations but a reality of diversity that we embrace every day.
Stories are real, names are not. The terminology used should be persons with disability or persons living with a disability.
