This afternoon I was at the office of our member of parliament. I went there to discuss with the bursary committee the children with disabilities in schools. I realized that the office had not taken into consideration the people with disabilities and their children. I had to take them through an hour of lecture on how best they involve everyone.
I've been doing this every time we've a new team. We need to remind them every other time that things should go this way or the other. In fact there are appropriate legislation in place but they are never put into practice. It is only when one reminds them is when something is done.
It is therefore our roles and responsibilities to advocate for our rights. Sometimes one comes up with excuses, for example one asked me today, “Where are these people you are always talking about?” Well, I didn't answer the question because I knew time is not ripe.
This demonstrates the social model of disability versus the medical model of disability in the UK. It is a very important and avery serious problem in the UK. Legislation is useless without teeth to aid its implementation. We are the teeth.
The main duty of us OPDs is to push... Push.... push and push even harder. If the UK is a developed country and there are still such challenges, just imagine in Africa.
Disability is a global issue. The problems which appear may vary from country to country, culture to culture. However, at its heart the stigma discrimination and simple lack of awareness are remarkably similar.