The disabled and our society

Jan 19, 2012 Editorial

Today, the Ptolemy Reid Rehabilitation Centre would be forty-five years old. For nearly half of a century, it has been trying to rehabilitate the physically disabled so that they could play meaningful roles in the society. It took a national calamity to get such an institution into existence.
Guyana experienced an outbreak of cholera during the 1960s. Many children across the country suffered. To look at things today, it is difficult to believe that there could have ever been such an outbreak. But back then, half a century ago, people saw their children go to bed and wake up with a debilitating fever. They were undergoing a life-changing experience. Some would die but many would be left crippled.
Before long, with parents already hard pressed to earn to keep their homes afloat, there was a need for support systems. The Ptolemy Reid Centre, which was at one time the Polio Rehabilitation Centre, saw the light of day. It started with the basics. There was a swimming pool to help the victims exercise the wasted muscles of the arms and legs and there was a facility to help with orthopedic aids.
But the wider society was not readily helpful. Forty-five years after the establishment of the rehabilitation centre, the country is still grappling to install ramps and other facilities for the disabled. And it had to take legislation for this to happen. The law is that all public institutions must have a ramp to facilitate access for the disabled but there is no law, or if there is, nothing to enforce it in the case of public transport.
People still stand and watch the minibuses speed past people with disabilities. These minibuses do not have ramps and the conductors are not in a hurry to help load wheelchairs. It is unfortunate that the nation does not offer public transport so while some agencies seek to minimize the discomfort for the disabled the effort to get to these institutions is thwarted.
Today, there are no government institutions, perhaps only the David Rose School for the Handicapped. All others are either non-governmental organizations that would get a subvention from the government, or private facilities such as the Guyana Institute for the Blind and the Red Cross Children’s Convalescent Home.
In each case the government releases some money to these organizations. But the subvention is often not enough for the people who volunteer what little of their labour they have to be compensated in some way. Indeed most of the people who work with the disabled are women. Their caring nature may be the reason.
However, there should be some public support for these people. They have all but removed the burden of dealing with the disabled from the society. The government manages the salaries of the staff at the Ptolemy Reid Rehabilitation Centre but the other facilities must come from the centre.
For example, many children who have physical disabilities are not mentally disabled. There should be proper teachers at the centre. However, the centre seems unable to manage the number of people needed. There are simply not enough teachers.
Then there are children with cerebral palsy and those with Downes Syndrome. They need special attention but instead of specialists the centre must use the ordinary people who simply make themselves available to help these disabled people.
We do not have a facility that offers specialist training for people who must deal with the disabled and the elderly. We train teachers and nurses and doctors to deal with the rest of society. We do not even train physiotherapists. For that we must use the services in other countries.
But shortcomings apart, it is remarkable that polio is a thing of the past. And for that the country must be recognized for doing something right. However, the founders of the institution that set about to rehabilitate the victims of polio are the ones who must be lauded. Without their initiative the victims of such a debilitating ailment might have been lost to society. And we can so conclude, because since then there has been no other institution to cater for the disabled.

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