VOICE OUT FOR US....MAKE OUR RIGHTS REAL

VOICE OUT FOR US....MAKE OUR RIGHTS REAL

A MESSEGE FROM THE DISABILITY COMMUNITY OF KARACHI TO OUR FELLOW PAKISTANI WHO LIVE IN KARACHI.

'Consider the rights of the deprived before your own feelings, and the feelings of the deprived before your own rights.'

WHERE SHOULD I GO NEXT?

A Neglected Community

These words are directly from the hearts of Persons with Disabilities

Dear Fellow Citizen of Pakistan, who live in Karachi,

My background and interest in Persons with Disabilities Rights stems from the fact that I myself am a Person with Severe Disabilities with Progressive Muscular Dystrophy, which affects my mobility. Like all of us, I have a number of characteristics and identities, but overwhelmingly my identity as a Person with Disabilities has defined my relationship with the world and its relationship with me, and my status as a Person with Disabilities has defined, informed and ultimately motivated my life. I would like to share with you some of the thoughts concerning the common accessibility problems all Persons with Disabilities face as members of the human family in Pakistan.

We have waited for more than sixty years for our constitutional and Allah-given rights, like Social inclusion, Positive Attitude and Rights Based Approach, but our government policies still creep at horse and buggy pace toward the gaining of a discrimination free environment.

Being a Disabilities Rights Activist, and a person with severe disabilities myself, I request you through this letter that, ‘We do not want your SMYPATHY or CHARITY’, but Positive Attitude, Social Inclusion and Rights Based Approach. By sympathy and charity you keep our bodies alive, but with the above mention gestures you keep Our Soul, Our Self-Esteem, and Dignity alive.

I guess it is easy for those who have never felt the stinging darts of exclusion and to hear, 'Wait.' But when you have seen cruel pain string up in your parents eyes, and drown your siblings and loved ones in tears, when you have seen avoiding attitude, discrimination of your Person with Disabilities with impunity; when you suddenly find your tongue twisted and your speech stammering as you seek to explain to your six-year-old daughter why she can't go to any public places with you, like Shopping Malls, Fast Food Restaurants, Parks, Amusement Parks, Banks, Commercial Centers, Government Offices, or any new leisure place that has just been advertised on electronic or print media, and see tears welling up in her eyes when she is told that these places cannot accommodate or has no accessibility RAMPS for Persons with Disabilities, or when you have to make up an answer for a five-year-old son asking in worrying sorrow: 'Papa, why do these people treat Persons with Disabilities, so mean?';

We write letters, we protest, but our actions do not always bring results, this gesture makes Persons with Disabilities interpret it in the following way: "if there is no access for us to those public places like Shopping Malls, Fast Food Restaurants, Parks, Amusement Parks, Banks, Commercial Centers, Government Offices, or any new leisure place, it means they do not want us".

Dear Fellow Citizen of Pakistan who lives in Karachi, we all are dependent on each other in so many ways that we can no longer live in isolated Communities and ignore what is happening outside those communities. We need to include each other when we have difficulties.

We request you to be our Good-Will Ambassador, and Voice out for Us, It seems that Persons with Disabilities cannot overcome the resistance since it is so strong from the society.

Dear Fellow Citizen of Pakistan who lives in Karachi, our strength consists of almost10% of the population and your strength consists of almost 90%. We have full faith that if you Voice out for Us, our accessibility problem will be solved.

Whenever you visit an outlet and don’t see accessibility ‘RAMP’ for Wheelchairs or Senior Citizens with mobility problem, or with Walkers, inform them that they should make a RAMP as soon as possible or you will boycott their outlet the next time you visit and don’t see an accessibility RAMP present.

Hope to receive your full Moral Support and encouraging response from your side.

HONSALA RAKHTE HAI HAATHI KA

JIGAR RAKHTE HAI SHER KA

AGAR MILJAYE SAATH AAP KA

TU HUM BHI CHANTANON PER BASERA KARENGE

Pakistan Zindabad