La discapacidad como condición de vida no limitante [ESP 𝗅 ENG]

We are all geniuses, but if you judge a fish by its ability to climb trees, it will live its whole life thinking it is useless. Albert Einstein

Greetings Hivers readers, in this opportunity I share with you some reflections about disability as a non-limiting life condition.

Many people tend to confuse or think that disability equals incapacity. This is an important point to clarify since the horizon of meanings from where we place ourselves will depend on how we treat people with this life condition. Even from where we see the same person with disability will create their beliefs of handicap or worth as a person.

All this creates a series of imaginaries around this condition of life, which is not limiting; however, the meanings we give them will influence the ways in which we relate to circumstances.

Disability is the result of the interaction between personal and social factors. Individually, it refers to a dysfunction of congenital or acquired origin, temporary or permanent, that affects one or more bodily or psychological structures or functions, causing difficulties in performing personal, family, social or occupational activities.

Social factors have to do with elements in the environment that hinder or restrict access, mobility or participation in vital situations, and also have to do with the lack of social support. This is negative attitudes, inaccessible transportation and public buildings, impediments to labor, school, social insertion or difficulties for the full exercise of their rights under equal conditions and opportunities with others.

Disability is a state, not a condition of life, that prevents you from performing some activity for a determined or undetermined period of time due to hospitalization, medical rest or vegetative state. It is a concept that is more related to the labor field.

De la disCapacidad a la Productividad.
From disCapacity to Productivity.

Going from disability to productivity implies problematizing the meanings about congenital or acquired motor, biological or psychological conditions and one's own productive possibilities.

To problematize is to go from action to reflection and from reflection to action in a movement that generates change. It implies questioning our meanings. To think of the physical or psychological condition as a barrier that makes it impossible, as an invalid being that oppresses and prevents us from being productive. By questioning the fact of falling and not having hands or feet I can get up and "stand up" and realize that this condition does not limit me.

In the beginning, a blind, deaf person, or a person with Down syndrome or paralysis in the legs were considered by society as having little or no possibility of success in any work, cultural or sporting activity, and therefore, they were seen as invalids. This was the term that was used. It has been modernized and some people call them disabled. This leads to limiting ways of relating to them, of perceiving them with pity. Some people turn away or ignore them.

Disability, as an acquired or congenital condition, does not prevent the free development in the daily activities of social, work and family life.

En las imágenes a continuación podemos observar ese paso de la palabra hacia la acción transformadora:

In the following images we can observe this step from words to transforming action:

Here are some links if you want to go deeper into the disability issue

Disability

Discapacidad

Las imágenes son de mi propiedad. Fueron editadas con GIMP y Postimages
Los separadores son diseño propio. Editados con Power Point, GIMP y Postimages