THE EDITOR, Sir:
I JUST finished reading the article titled 'Caring for the handicapped' and thought that I would write a response to the issue of having a disability in Jamaica. I once lived on the island and I am afflicted with a disability that I have had since birth.
I remember my life as being comfortable but that was due mainly to my parents and close family members. As for the treatment that I received from the general public, it was one of alienation and indelible stares as if I was just another strange thing for them to figure out.
Now that I am living in the United States, I am able to recognise the reason for the low standard of treatment that is given to the disabled. It is not necessarily a lack of funds that causes them to be ill-treated. It is a lack of understanding of what it means to have a disability and a lack of compassion for those afflicted.
They are viewed as a burden by their parents who put them in institutions and then by the caretakers who acknowledge them primarily as a source of income. Providing more money to the institutions might ensure that there is better food, but without being recognised as a person and treated as such, then it is futile to increase funding.
Better treatment must begin with the recognition of their basic humanity and the potential that they hold.
I am, etc.,
DAYNIAH M
MANDERSON
dayniah@aol.com
New York
Via Go-Jamaica
