A few years ago I was in Kabul Afghanistan and spoke with some middle aged woman who worked as Afghani agronomists. I asked them how they got their training – given Afghanistan’s history of education for women. They said they were the right age for high school and university during the Soviet occupation of Kabul when women had the most rights they’d ever had in Afghanistan. Following the pull out of the Soviets, these women didn’t work, and their daughters couldn’t go to school. Now, under the watchful eye of the West, they are allowed to work again.

I thought about these women when I read an article from the New York Times dealing with the “rights” of women in Afghanistan. Sadly, the situation there has hardly improved since my trip just a couple years ago. Issues like a woman’s right to consent to marriage or a girl’s freedom to go school are still in jeopardy.

How do you embed someone’s rights – like women – in a place like Afghanistan? How do you educate and change an entire set of cultural norms of a nation to recognize others as their equals?

It’s a difficult mater to take on, and a problem that cannot be resolved overnight. Change will have to come from the inside out, and this takes time.

But what does this have to do with disability and cbm Canada?

One of our objectives is to ensure that people with disabilities have the same opportunities to education, health care, development aid, and the everyday activities that all of us enjoy. These are “rights”. What is unfortunate is that in order to extend these rights to people with disabilities it requires effort, resources, time, and a change in cultural norms.

It requires a new way of thinking – of society valuing all people the same. The goal should be to build communities that are willing to work together and look out for one another.

I was privileged to see a community just like this during a trip I took to Zimbabwe. I was visiting a rural village when I noticed some construction at the edge of the playing field. The headmaster of the school saw me taking interest in the projects, and he told me they were building a latrine. But this wasn’t a typical latrine like the many others the school had built. This one was being specifically constructed for two boys with a disability.

I asked the headmaster what made the school decide to take on such a project. I was expecting him to tell me that some NGO had provided the funding. I was surprised to learn that the villagers themselves had come to the school and said there were two children who couldn’t go to the school because there were no toilet facilities for them. The community came to the school and insisted that this barrier be removed.

The issue was as simple as a school bathroom, but the community took a stand for these children and helped create a facility that allowed them to get an education.

You know what? I don’t worry about the rights of children with disabilities in that village. They’ve demonstrated an attitude of inclusivity, and brought about change. And by doing so, they’ve embedded the rights of these two children into their community.

Throughout the course of this year’s London Olympics, I’ve had a number of articles and news clips forwarded to my inbox. Nearly all of these articles have talked about the stories of Im Dong Hyun from South Korea and/or Oscar Pistorius from South Africa.

For those of you who are not familiar with the stories of these two men, I’ll give you a quick summary. Both Im and Oscar are athletes who’ve received great recognition during the 2012 London Olympics. They’ve achieved respectable success in their sports of choice, and they each have a “disability” that most would expect to be a barrier to their ability to compete.

Im Dong Hyun set a world record when he scored 699 out of a possible 720 points in the first round of the men’s archery contest. Ironically, Im already held the record in this category from the previous Olympics in Bejjing, but what is really drawing attention to Im’s story is the fact that he is legally blind – 20/200 vision in one eye and 20/100 in the other eye. He is unable to read a newspaper at arm’s length, but he can hit a target with an arrow from over a hundred of feet away.

In a similar story, one of the most promising sprinters running for South Africa is Oscar Pistorius, a double below-knee amputee. Oscar has earned the nickname “Blade Runner” because he runs on two artificial lower legs specifically designed to help him sprint.

The achievements of both these men have made for tremendous success stories in the media. And, despite everything I’m going to say in this blog, I want to make it clear that I wish to take nothing away from their success or recognition. At the same time, I think there is a real problem with praising Im and Oscar simply because they each possess a legal disability.

Do these two athletes want to be celebrated for overcoming a disability? Or do they want to celebrate the fact that they’ve competed and placed in the Olympic Games, beating out numerous would class athletes to do so? If I were to talk with Im or Oscar, I have a strong inclination both their answers would be the latter.

In fact, I did a little digging before writing this post, and I found an interview with Im where he said “I don’t have a stick, I don’t have a blind dog. It’s unpleasant when people say I’m disabled. All this interest in my sight is not welcome.” As we’re trying to celebrate his achievement as someone with a disability, we’re forgetting to recognize his achievement as an athlete – an athlete who’s trained and worked the same way every other athlete in the Olympics has worked.

Is such praise really helping to breakdown division? Shouldn’t we instead praise these men as athletic competitors – the reason they came to London in the first place?

I wonder sometimes if our excessive recognition of these two men isn’t perhaps motivated by something else.

Our culture is frequently guilty of making a poor effort to include those with disabilities in day to day life. Yet, when these same individuals achieve something great, we place them on a pedestal and praise them for overcoming all that adversity. When we do this, I can’t help but think we are letting ourselves off the hook.

Rather than creating a culture that encourages everyone to achieve their very best in life without having to overcome epic barriers, we’ve decided to lower our expectations for those with disabilities. We praise people who overcome significant barriers, while at the same time not doing enough to remove barriers in every-day life. This bothers me.

We shouldn’t celebrate the achievements of Im and Oscar simply because they are “disabled” athletes competing in the Olympics alongside “regular” athletes. We should applaud their achievements the same way we would applaud the victory of any other athlete competing. After all, is there really any difference?

One of cbm’s most popular annual wall calendars (until next year’s anyways!) was one we did back in 2010. The theme was “I am able”. It showed people with impairments celebrating their abilities. I still hear supporters and colleagues talking about that calendar.

I know all our calendars are great, but this one was exceptional. I think its message cut through the clutter because it focussed on what our clients are capable of, rather than what they can’t do.

I struggle with the tension between the terms “disability” and “ability”. When does a weakness become a disability? Why do we label people by the one thing they can’t do? Why do we call people “disabled” when there’s still a whole host of the stuff they CAN do?

I meet people like Martin in Zambia and am humbled. The young man could probably run circles around me when it comes to math – even though he needs crutches to walk. He has an ability set that I don’t have, yet he’s “disabled” and I am not?

This all makes me wonder whether we should change the way we talk and focus more on people’s ability?

As I talk to clients and DPOs and colleagues, I’m finding that terminology is a controversial subject within the disability community. There are some who say that society should concentrate on the abilities. And there are others who are adamant that they want to name and embrace their disability. It is part of their identity.

So – it is in this context that I came across this video clip. Interestingly it shows both “ability” and “disability” viewpoints in the same person. It is a story of a woman with an impairment who came to the rescue of a young girl and saved her life. It is all about ability, what the woman brings to the community, her value within that community. Yet, at the end listen to her statement of identity – proud of her disabled status to the point of almost defiance.

It is going to be a fun year exploring these thoughts and trying to figure out our messages.

Last year cbm Canada made a decision to include people with disabilities in our planning and implementation. We have also tried very hard to recruit and hire staff who are skilled and fully capable, and may also have a disability. This is important to us – we need to be accountable to people with disabilities in all we say and do.

Let me give you an example of how this can work.

My last blog was on couples with disabilities who have children. In my first draft of that blog I used the phrase …”couples who have an illness, like Cerebral Palsy….” One of our staff persons, Jaymie, read this. She wrote me an email about my blog saying among other things:

“In my opinion you could have left out the word ‘illness’ because I believe the word sort of has a negative connotation and feel that it implies the need to be taking care of or that one is incapable. It reinforces this preconceived social idea that all people with disabilities are weak and need to be cared for…”

This is why we need to hear from people with disabilities. Yes, Jaymie has a disability and was able to tell me what my words sounded like through her life lens. It helped me to understand better and to communicate better.

Thank you Jaymie.

I changed my blog.

Those of you who follow cbm Canada hear us often speak about disability. The more I see and visit with people around the world who we do say have a “disability”, I think of ability.

You can look at anything from different angles.

Certainly we do work with people with medical impairments – be it disease, a twisted foot, or cataract. The barriers these people do feel in life – their disability – is a combination of the impairment and the norms of society. The disability of not being able to read, for example, because of blindness is “cured” when books and web sites are in digital form which allows it to be audibly read. Our job is not about disability per se, but about ability. We celebrate ability, promote ability, work through medical interventions and with communities to turn the disability to ability. I wonder if we should stop talking about disability all together, and speak of ability.

This is why an article that I received yesterday is so interesting. It concerns parents with Cerebral Palsy, who have children. There is one case in Toronto that is at the forefront of this issue, but the article does a great job of not focussing on one couple, but drawing the issue out further. At the core is society definitions of ability and disability. At the core is our definition of normal. At the core is a celebration of ability over disability – couples who refused to let society’s imposed disabilities stop their ability to have a family of their choice.

What do you think?

In my last post I spoke about the amazing win by Josh Cassidy in the Boston Marathon this year and how pleased I was that the media in Canada covered this so well. I wanted to first congratulate Josh before making my next point – because nothing I say here should take away from Josh’s great achievement.

I recently returned from Uganda. While there I met a number of families with children with disabilities. I was so lucky to spend some time with these families and get to know them a little bit. The one family consisted of a grandmother looking after her mother and aunt, along with 5 orphaned grandchildren. The oldest grandchild had a significant disability and was in our program. I know that Josh and other athletes have courage, dedication, drive, courage, and talent. What struck me was the courage, dedication, drive, courage and talent of these children and their grandmothers in places like Uganda. Every day is a marathon – a marathon of finding food, looking for hope, getting to school, keeping the place clean, and wondering about the future.

Please don’t misunderstand me – Josh Cassidy’s win in Boston is a testament to his dedication and courage, and I am thrilled he is getting good press coverage. I just wish that these grandmothers and children in Uganda, who quietly toil away with their own dedication and courage would get the recognition that they deserve.

Josh Cassidy won the Boston Marathon last Monday. Josh broke the world’s record for a marathon in a wheel chair. What a huge accomplishment! Here is a video of Josh training – amazing how fast he is going. Congratulations Josh!

Two things struck me with Josh’s win. I will give one of those today and then give the other one in my next post.

I was so pleased to see how the Canadian media covered Josh’s win. For too long the media has only focussed on the winners who are perceived as “normal”. It is as if the wheel chair athletes do not have to have the same dedication, hard work, sacrifice, courage, and talent as those who do not have a disability. When it was reported on in the past, it was always done with a caveat – some seen as less valued. Not this year and with Josh. I hope it is not simply because he is a Canadian. I hope that this is because society attitudes have changed.

In my next post I will reflect a bit on another thing that stuck me upon watching the news of Josh’s win.

Brian Hatchell, cbm Canada
Guest Blogger

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Today was a hot, humid and emotionally draining day.

Our last day on the build site, and the humidex was well over 40, with absolutely no breeze. Even when we managed to find shade, we could still feel the heat pounding down on us. It’s the first time in my life I can ever remember feeling like my feet were on fire.

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Brian Hatchell, cbm Canada
Guest Blogger

Monday, March 26, 2012

The penultimate build day, hard to believe it’s coming to an end.

After taking Sunday off to go to church and relax for a day, it was back to the build site today.

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Brian Hatchell, cbm Canada
Guest Blogger

Nothing makes you feel as sore as manual labour, especially if you are used to working at a desk all day.

Today was our first day on the build site, and I don’t think very many of us, including myself, had any idea how hard it is to build a house from the ground up.

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