wheelchair

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Makgosi Letimile in Cape Town: ‘Disabled’ world forced to learn PWD life lessons

The pandemic has been ‘disabling’ the world as we knew it, forcing people to reassess their values and outlook.

wheelchair

Photo: Adobe Stock

This year has brought with it a pandemic that started off as what looked like a badly constructed conspiracy theory. And for weeks before it struck South Africa, we didn’t fully understand the impact of what the virus would mean to us.

I watched it unfold and I couldn’t help but compare in parallel how this virus was about to disable the world as we knew it, changing how everything is done and viewed.

As a formerly able-bodied woman who has had to live with a disability since 2016, my life has also turned upside down and it was because of the kindness of others that I was able to make it out in one piece.

The power of kindness

Kindness has been preached worldwide as we battle this virus and humanity has had to step outside of its own selfishness in order to make sure that we get through this with as few deaths as possible.

Being kind and considerate of others, learning that it’s up to me to make sure that my neighbours and friends are safely looked after. People are realising that we don’t all have the same ability to do, eat and exist, but now we are all fighting to make sure that it becomes a realisation.

For once in the history of South Africa we are forced to care about each other because we depend on each other 

World now sees through eyes of the disabled

People now experience what we as PWDs (people with disabilities) mean when we say life is expensive because we pay 10 times an amount for transport that we should be able to access as a human right.

When we apply for jobs and we are told that our mobility aids cannot be accommodated and therefore we cannot work — even though we are the biggest minority in the county. With options to work remotely, from start to finish, we have  been denied many opportunities because the outside world is mostly unaccommodating..

We have had to learn to self-isolate because when people make plans, we are invited as an afterthought as it’s often an inconvenience to everyone involved, especially us, because we expect people to be considerate of our ability to access spaces. 

Social distancing

We have been trying to tell people to social distance and keep their hands to themselves unless we consent to being touched since forever and it took a pandemic for people to understand that breathing down on us is now potentially life-threatening.

Touching me without my consent could kill me and backing away to give me space could save my life. 

When Police Minister Bheki Cele was mentioning how people should not even touch one another during the night, people laughed at the implication that it’s safer not to touch your partner.

However, people all of a sudden realised how companionship during a difficult time is important and yet PWDs are often unpartnered because we are not seen as human beings with feelings and needs. 

Pandemic parallels

When people talk about how it is to watch their loved ones being sick and it being expensive to get a COVID-19 test which should be free and standard because healthcare is a human right and I think about my experience when I couldn’t afford to fix a wheelchair that was supposed to be a state service for me, I can’t help but want to scream at the world: “Why did it have to take a pandemic for you to see what we have been talking about as the disabled?” 

I could go on, but the parallels of what this virus is teaching us and how humanity can learn to be better to one another and especially to PWDs could teach us something valuable during this tragic time. 

My hope is that we all take the time to learn how to be better people and to rid ourselves of our bigotries that endanger our lives and others in the many ways that are not necessary. And hopefully next time I say I’m disabled, I don’t get treated like I am a lesser being.