Nethra Silva

The decision to become a fighter for the rights of people with disabilities was not just a coincidence in my life. Once, I met with a friend who I hadn’t seen in 15 years. Since it was quite a rainy day, I took off my jacket and hung it on the rack while folding my umbrella. Suddenly my eyes stopped in a place near the window, yet I was unsure if the person sitting there was really him. I went to the counter to buy a latte. Suddenly, my old friend waved his hand which made me turn back to confirm whether he was waving at someone else.

‘Yep, it’s you,” he whispered. It’s true I didn’t hear him, but I interpreted what he said. I sat opposite him and said, “It’s freezing.”

“Yeah, it’s quite cold,” he said. “So, how have you been?” I smiled. He just murmured something I couldn’t get and stared at the raindrops falling. It seemed he was meditating.

“Oops, sorry I just lost it. You asked something?” he said, turning to me.

“Yep, just asked how you have been,” I said.

“I was serving in the army for the past two years and have been looking for a decent job to provide for my family. You?” he responded.

“Still studying,” I said. “How was life in the forces?”
“I just lost my leg,” he replied. I was shocked, as I haddn’t even notice anything.

“I lost my right leg in the battlefield, and they sent me back. I wanted a job and did my best to one. I had more than twenty interviews, but they all just considered the disability I have. You know, it’s not difficult to understand that I cannot climb up stairs. It was so unfair how they always expected punctuality. I have a wheelchair, but I used crutches to climb. It takes time. Now it’s been more than six months. I’m still looking for a job, but no one will hire me.”

I felt a disgust about society when I heard he couldn’t find work. Of course, I feel as though we are still so behind in terms of accessibility. My country hasn’t even completed the minimum requirements for global development. The way a person with a disability is treated in society is unacceptable, I felt. As my friend was sharing these experiences he had, I thought of how exceptional the sacrifice he made on the battlefield was. Living with a disability has never bothered him. He was so proud to be accepted for who he really was.

We talked a lot about the economy and stability, and I couldn’t help but think how he had an amazing knowledge of trade and the international market. “Finding a job to provide for my family is just a situation. The world deserves more. We deserve more,” he said. At the time, I thought about how I had never written about disability rights. It occurred to me how the matter of accessibility needs to be widely discussed. My friend was one of the best examples of an individual who required more accessibility. I had no idea of how I was about to help him make a change. I thought about how I might get backlash for helping him make this change due to the negativity in attitudes and views of many people about disability. I understood how disability is viewed negatively by people due to societal attitudes.

Even though culture can sometimes be ableist, I thought of how the world needs to change its attitudes about disability. For a moment, I felt how frustrated my friend was about life. That’s when I decided to advocate for accessibility for people with disabilities. “You cannot give up. Life is also as same as the battlefield you fought on,” I said. He said nothing but smiled and left with the crutches. I was watching him until his shadow disappeared. He caused me to think about how we have missed something as a community, as a nation.

I thought about people who challenged the obstacles, and who fought against the injustice. I began to make a change with my own words. I raised my voice in front of advocates for educational and employment rights about the importance of including people with disabilities, and how I felt people with disabilities had been excluded from these systems for many years. When I had the opportunity to speak about this in front of a large audience, I was quite terrified and anxious. I felt they were going to stare at me when I was speaking. I felt that some of them would learn something, and that some might not, but what I wanted to do was make them aware of the impact of inaccessibility and the lack of employment on the lives of people with disabilities. I pulled out the microphone and began speaking with confidence. “Employment is considered as one of the most widely discussed fundamentals of human existence which has been evaluated numerically over the years, yet the number of employees with disabilities is very low. Specifically, this can be seen in economically developing nations such as in south Asia and south Africa. When it comes to employment for people with disabilities, perhaps the most neglected aspect which has not been considered for many years is accessibility because accessibility should be a human right, not a privilege.

The attitudes of non-disabled people towards disabled people should reflect disabled people’s desire for and right to equality. I have heard from people with mobility impairments that they experience lots of inaccessibility at government centers, workplaces and specifically in government schools in South Asia. Children with mobility impairments in South-Asian nations have faced a huge dilemma for many years when it has come to buildings that lack elevators.

Even though education is a recommended right for all humans, children with disabilities often have to depend on their friends, caregivers, or someone else for help accessing buildings. Inaccessibility can never be justified, although solving problems of inaccessibility has not yet been prioritized. I have some recommendations about establishing accessibility rights for people with mobility impairments. In Sri Lanka, there is a proverb saying, “the answer is philosophical until the matter is not one’s own.” Except that for individuals with disabilities, society often does not have a clear concern regarding the obstacles they face. One of the possible recommendations is to enhance the awareness for the need of accessibility, globalizing the rights of people with disabilities. Even though it is difficult to spread the message with the magnitude of population growth, that is the key to creating an attitudinal revolution.

Installing an elevator and making a building accessible cannot alone help to draw the global and governmental attention on the matter of inaccessibility. Organizations, groups, and advocates have the responsibility to raise awareness of the need for accessibility in government and socio-cultural settings. Education is the most critical topic globally because it leads to employment. In lots of South Asian nations, the lack of accessible educational institutions is responsible for the reduced participation of individuals with disabilities in the job market. Disability in and of itself is not necessarily as limiting to the lives of people with disabilities as inaccessibility is. Thank you.” The audience was silent, but I have always heard that silence is one of the most powerful methods of communication. The sound of applause began quietly until it became as loud as a storm.