In light of what Punjab Information Minister said about the disabled being punishment for parents by God, would like to share some thoughts here.
On the one hand, disabled persons have to wage a constant battle to overcome social and physical barriers.
On the other, they have to come to terms with the question as to what accounts for their disability.
Their problem is exacerbated by the explanation offered by ‘sympathetic’ people.
The standard words used are: “Ah, well, when God deprives you of one thing, he blesses you with another.”
This is followed by a sigh of relief, thanking God for not putting them at the receiving end of their own perverted sense of divine justice.
Despite all the trappings of a modern society, that is, democracy and its attendant paraphernalia of a free market, universities, and the IT revolution, ours is essentially a traditional society.
One characteristic of such a society is that the majority of its population is fatalistic in its outlook and takes everything under the sun to be 'pre-ordained'.
As a result, even known scientific knowledge is not applied to solve problems of a physical and social nature, let alone discover new information.
In such a scenario, it is not surprising that disability is considered to be a punishment visited upon people by evil spirits, the devil or witchcraft.
It is also seen as a manifestation of God's displeasure.
Equally unscientific is the solution offered to tackle disability.
It calls for acknowledging divine will, resigning oneself to one’s fate, or perform penance to purge oneself of the evil that has beset him.
Historically, this approach has resulted in isolation, death or banishment for disabled people in all traditional societies at different periods of time.
At social meetings and functions on disability it is common to hear words such as:.
“It is the will of God, what can a man do?”
“You are the ‘blessed’ ones.”
“It is the will of God, what can a man do?”
“You are the ‘blessed’ ones.”
“You are innocent as you do not see the filth and obscenity prevailing in this world.”
“You will be compensated on the Day of Judgment for your hardships.”
“You will be compensated on the Day of Judgment for your hardships.”
“If God takes one thing away from you, he compensates you with another.”
The mindset that finds expression through such sentences depicts disabled people as ‘victims’.
But they are not considered to be the victims of the environmental barriers as they really are, but victims by default as they suffer from impairment-related society-imposed barriers.
The disabled in Pakistan are the victims of this victim-by-default syndrome.
While the ability of faith in terms of sustaining the life of an individual can hardly be disputed, the fact remains that the ruling elite over the centuries in all societies has been using religion as a convenient and readily available tool to preserve its powers.
The ruling elite will continue shifting the focus away to the heavens whenever they will be asked to solve problems of the disabled as there is method in their madness.
While creating good feelings by employing religious sweet talk is both easier and cost effective,....
ensuring that the disabled are able to enjoy full participation on an equal basis in society demands a lot of resources that the elite is not willing to part with.
Nobody, I repeat, nobody, knows the unspeakable pain of the mother or of the father who have a disabled child.
I want Chohan Sb to offer apology to all the mothers and fathers who have disabled children.
The issues of crime and punishment should be dealt with in line with the laws of the land and settled principles of justice and not through our understanding of the divine justice system.
