Challenging or discriminating PWDs?

I recently received a message from a friend about his wife’s sad experience as a card carrying PWD or Person With Disability. He shared his wife’s Facebook Post on just one of numerous incidents where she has been discriminated upon as a PWD:

“I always get bad looks when I show them my PWD (card)….Then the drugstore manager, one time told me, “your PWD case is not a real PWD”…I told her, you live with one lung!!! Try it and tell me it’s not real!!! A cough and a cold to a normal person is just that, to me it is a lot of pain, a lot of blood, a hard time breathing and mostly ending up in pneumonia!!! You tell me living with one lung is easy!!! I was so livid. Worst, I need to spend so much money for all the medications and hospitalization to survive everyday, and you don’t want to give me the discount coz I’m not in a wheel chair, coz the body part that’s missing is not seen!!! Does that make it any less PWD!!!???“

Unfortunately, that incident is not unique or uncommon. In fact many of us in our zeal to honor or respect the rights of PWDs may at one time or another have even cast doubts on people parking at PWD slots or standing on priority lanes or persons claiming PWD benefits simply because they “Look Normal.” They have complete limbs, are not blind, not in a wheel chair, not an amputee, not “old” and not pregnant. So we begin to wonder or cast dirty looks. The thing is there are many other forms of disability that is never discussed in public. Let’s start with vision. I know a young man who looks quite normal on the outside but that’s until you discover that he is legally blind. Some people have dyslexia, some have mini machines running their hearts, I have friends who go around with a colostomy bag, a computer that injects insulin to prevent diabetic shock.

I’m a very productive and active media person, but many of my student-executives can attest to the fact that after a few hours of lecturing or moderating in seminars they have seen me take painkillers every three to four hours. That’s because I have two compressed nerves, a compressed sciatica and glaucoma on the left eye. This explains my “waddle” which is no longer genetic but rather an orthopedic condition. The first 20 minutes of my one-hour walking exercise is sheer agony. Whenever I park, I have to make an effort to find a slot near the entrance. But because I know some idiots might decide to shame me on social media, I am wary of using PWD parking even when attendants tell me that they are for PWDs and senior citizens!

The point is, not every disability is visible. Many times, just like scars and traumas, the ones that are not visible are the ones that disable people the most. Please don’t add to the scars with your ignorance. Educate yourself and educate others.

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Change will always have its casualties, and in the government’s move to reclaim “public roads,” many people are now in a panic as to who and what is covered or affected? While everyone generally agrees that major thoroughfares and pass through roads such as the “Mabuhay Lanes” are covered by the campaign, there is now an ongoing discussion and confusion about interior roads or inner roads that are not in the daily route of drivers or vehicles. Thankfully, there has been no actual clearing operations or towing operations in those inner roads that has been reported by media, but this has not prevented some people from sowing confusion and fear among the general population just so they sound informed or engaged particularly on Facebook. Such an environment of uncertainty quickly leads to negativism and that’s something we don’t need now that the government is on a roll.

Then there is the issue about “resident parking space” in many barangays where there are often more cars than there is space and neighbors get testy about some residents taking over most of the parking space and not “respecting” resident’s parking space. As a result, many people have resorted to putting up metal barriers, signposts stating “reserved for resident”. Given the momentum of local governments on reclaiming public roads, now would also be a good time or perfect opportunity for barangay captains to audit or survey the ratio of garage versus number of vehicles per residence and to determine if those garage are being used for the intended purpose or not. Barangay officials really have to act now before neighbors start fighting and hurting each other.

During his guesting in our TV program AGENDA on Cignal TV, Undersecretary Martin Diño clarified that while barangays may have jurisdiction on the streets in their area of responsibility, this does not give them ownership or authority to declare public roads as their commercial space or property to use as pay parking. It’s encouraging to see how illegal structures such as barangay outposts, police precincts and even barangay halls illegally constructed on sidewalks are now being demolished, but little has been said or done about on-street pay parking that has eaten up a lot of road space and creates congestion. Perhaps now is the best time for the national and local government and Congress to strategize on the construction of barangay based multi-level parking buildings that residents can use as low cost long term pay parking. They can even use the roof decks for events or sports activities as an all in one self-liquidating project. By the way, the DILG also has to go after construction sites that fence up the sidewalks under the guise of “safety concerns.” There is nothing safe about forcing us pedestrians to walk on the street!

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