ISLAMABAD: People with disabilities shared their stories of struggle, hardships and success at an event held to mark International Day of Persons with Disabilities on Tuesday.

Sharing his story, Federal Information Commissioner Zahid Abdullah said in 1968, a child was born who could not see properly. An elderly relative suggested sending him to learn Quran by heart as he could not perform properly in formal schooling. But his mother got her child enrolled into a formal school.

He did masters in English and is now working as a federal information commissioner.

“It’s generally believed that disability is a curse of our bad deeds so people with disabilities live with stigma. We should accept our bodies the way they are and love ourselves. Consequently, we will accept people living with disabilities as well,” he added.

Lubna Hannan, a polio survivor, narrated that she was three-year-old when she contracted the virus. She struggled hard to prove herself and despite accessibility barriers in school and college she graduated and acquired a diploma in IT.

Potohar Mental Health Association (PMHA) Chief Executive Zulqurnain Asghar, who is visually impaired, said disability is a way of life.

“Everybody has a different kind of disability and we need to accept and learn from each other,” he said.

He said society had double standards that need to be discouraged to give equal rights to people with disabilities.

A person living with disability needs to prove his disability to get a special identity card but a person without disability does not need to prove his fitness. Such attitudinal and thinking barriers should be discouraged, he added.

He demanded the political parties to amend Article 25(b) of the Constitution to give rights to people with disabilities just like women and minorities get in the Constitution.

Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) Secretary General Harris Khalique seconded their opinion and said: “Our colonial and capitalist society wants every woman to be like a Barbie doll and men to be like models and actors portrayed in the media.”

To mark International Day of Persons with Disabilities, a network of various organisations working for persons living with disabilities (PWDs) was relaunched for a coordinated struggle for their rights.

The network named as ‘Sanjh Shakti’ was formed in 2011 but it was nonfunctional. PMHA will be coordinating with all the organisations genuinely working for PWDs so that they are on board when policy decisions are made or any initiative is taken at the national level.

Published in Dawn, December 4th, 2019