To Begin With, Let’s Understand Disability
Disability is the experience of any condition that makes it more difficult for a person to do certain activities or have equitable access within a given society. More than 1 billion people have a disability. In addition to other factors, such as demographic changes and the rise in chronic health issues, the number of people with disabilities is significantly rising. At some point in life, almost everyone is going to suffer from a temporary or permanent impairment.
There are many types of Disabilities listed
- Blindness is defined as being sightless; even if a person is blind, they are still able to perceive and feel real. Today, individuals are donating their eyes after passing away so that blind people can see with new eyes. Some people have surgery on time, while some couldn’t. Donating our eyes will enable the blind to glimpse the world.
- Low Vision is the inability to see well; some people are born with it, while others have a color disorder. A person with a color disorder sees everything in black and white; they detect color by smell or through some form of practice; today, color disorder sufferers can use glasses or contact lenses to view everything in color.
- Hearing Impairment is the same as being deaf or unable to hear. Either a person has a loss of speech frequencies of 60 dB or 70 dB in both ears or they are completely deaf.
- Dwarfism: means growth disability – shorten than average body height.
- Intellectual disability (ID) is also known as a general learning disability (GLD) or mental retardation (MR), and it is characterized by limitations in cognitive functioning and abilities, such as those related to communication, social interaction, and self-care, like in the movie Tare Zameen Par.
- Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) is a nervous system disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord, causing loss of muscle control.
- Mental Illness refers to a serious impairment of thought, emotion, perception, short-term memory, judgment, and behavior.
- Autism Spectrum Disorder is a neurological and developmental condition that affects behavior and communication.
- Cerebral Palsy is a physically debilitating disorder that can last a lifetime because brain injury affects muscular coordination. There is currently no treatment for it.
- Multiple Disabilities, such as being both deaf and blind, have more than one significant disability.
There are a few examples of well-known persons who overcame their disabilities to achieve great things.
One of the most well-known scientists in history was Stephen Hawking. Prof. Hawking had to use a customized wheelchair that had a computer placed on it that could talk for him. Due to ALS, he was verbally impaired. In 2009, he earned the Presidential Medal of Freedom in addition to a number of other honors for his contributions to science.
Nick Vujicic has a rare disease that causes him to lack arms and legs. Nick, who had a handicap, managed to graduate from Griffith University at the age of 21 despite all the challenges that came with it. On February 12, 2012. Nick is the creator of “Attitude is Altitude” and a well-known motivational speaker across the world.
Jyoti Amge, who has dwarfism, holds the record for being the smallest living woman in the world. She has made several TV appearances. Her short stature is a result of the genetic disorder achondroplasia.
Sudha Chandran is an outstanding Bharatanatyam dancer and an Indian actress who had her right leg amputated.
Veteran Indian music composer, songwriter, and performer Ravindra Jain was born blind. He provided the music for countless Hindi movies and TV shows.
How to overcome Disability:
- When interacting with rude people, be courteous and composed: When someone makes fun of you, keep your temper by staying out of the fight. Instead of making fun of a critical remark, a few simple words might damage the heckler’s chance at fame. Taking charge and outdoing your heckler with humor, especially in front of others, may make you feel more self-assured and confident.
- Recognize and accept your Disability: Accepting your disability may be very challenging. Acceptance might appear to be a surrender, a giving up on life and your future. However, denying the truth of your limitations keeps you bound. It keeps you from growing, making the necessary adjustments, and establishing new objectives.
- Give your best: Instead of constantly focusing on your difficulties or failures, it is best to concentrate on the simple victories and on becoming stronger. You must find peace because you can be the greatest version of yourself despite your disability.
- Stay away from comparisons and acknowledge your successes: Setting objectives and strategies to attain them is the first step. Most of the time, we want to succeed as quickly as others seem to, but it’s important to enjoy each accomplishment and value progress at every stage of life. Each of us is on a different path, thus we should each define our goals using a different frame of reference.
- Making the change: Living with a disability may be a challenging transition. Until it’s gone, we all have a tendency to take our health for granted. Then, it’s far too simple to become focused on what we’ve lost. While you cannot travel back in time to a healthy self, you can change the way you see and manage your condition. There are various methods to increase your independence, sense of empowerment, and viewpoint, and you are still in charge of your life. It is totally possible to overcome the difficulties you face and has a full—and fulfilling— life, regardless of your impairment.
- Set attainable goals and exercise patience: Your handicap compels you to acquire new abilities and methods. You might also need to relearn basic skills that you previously took for granted. It may be a frustrating procedure, so it makes sense to want to speed things along and resume normal operations as soon as you can. But it’s important to keep reality. Overly aggressive goal-setting might actually result in failure and disappointment. Don’t be too hard on yourself. Every little advance counts. You will eventually arrive there.
- Request and accept support and help: When dealing with a handicap, it’s simple to feel entirely alone and misunderstood. You might feel tempted to distance yourself from other people. However, maintaining social connections will significantly improve your view and attitude.
- Find activities that are meaningful to you and provide a purpose: A handicap can alter many parts of your identity, prompting you to wonder about your identity, worth, and place in society. Especially if you are unable to perform the same tasks or engage in the same activities as previously, it is simple to begin feeling empty and worthless. Finding new things that make you feel good about yourself and give you a fresh feeling of significance and purpose is crucial for this reason. Like, creating new interests and hobbies that bring you joy.
Find methods to repay those who have helped you. Care for an animal
Thank You
Isha Sethi