WHY?

I’m often asked why I/we work with kids with disabilities in developing countries. “There is so much work to be done in Canada (regarding disability)”, or “There are so many other problems to address in developing countries”, they say. Of course, they are right and both points are valid ones. But, these statements also highlight the fact that most people aren’t aware of the issues surrounding kids with disabilities in developing countries. That’s why it’s become part of my job and our mission to increase awareness and understanding of this hidden reality.

Let’s start with some related statistics that you’ll often come across:

• There are approximately 200 million children with disabilities currently living in developing nations (that’s roughly 80% of all kids with disabilities in the world).
• Of these, an estimated 95% will never go to school.
• Approximately 95% will never receive any kind of rehabilitative services or assistive devices (like wheelchairs, hearing aids, walkers, etc.)
• Children with disabilities are considerably more likely to suffer all kinds of abuse and neglect than their age-related peers.
• Mortality rates of children with disabilities can be as high as 80% even in countries where overall under-five mortality is below 20%.

These statistics are very telling and very startling. Any person with a disability (or anyone who works or lives with a person with a disability) can imagine just how difficult life would be with no assistive devices, no therapy, no support services and no school. The high mortality rate as well as the increased rates of abuse and neglect are still poorly documented and rarely recognized, yet they point to an urgent problem that requires our immediate attention. The truth is, we don’t have hard facts or statistics about the amount of abuse and neglect that occurs, and this often makes the problem seem unimportant or even non-existent. But I can tell you that the problem is very real. I’d go so far as to say that it’s at epidemic proportions, occurring much more often than other issues that receive much more attention (and a lot more support and funds). So, since I can’t offer you hard evidence or statistics to back up this statement (and since statistics are so much less interesting than real stories anyways), below I will introduce you to just a few children I have met over the last few years.

Sara’s mother died in childbirth, so Sonia spent her first few years with her father, who routinely beat her. She then spent several years in an institution before she was returned to her family. When her cousins saw how she was being mistreated they took her in, but soon found they couldn’t care for her and she was again abandoned. Of course, as in most of the developing world , there were no homes (orphanages) prepared to take in a child with a disability.

When we met Jonson, he was 8 years old and had deep scars on his wrists and ankles from being kept tied up with the animals.

Mikel was about 8 when he was found abandoned on the steps of a church. He couldn’t sit up or communicate, and so people assumed he was “severely mentally retarded”, as they still call it here. At the orphanage where he was sent, he was kept in a room (by himself) with the door closed so his crying wouldn’t disturb others, for 2 years. Since everyone thought he was a “vegetable”, they didn’t see a problem with this. Turns out, he’s a very bright boy.

Cristofer was a beautiful and bright boy who loved to hear stories. He was killed (allegedly by his mother) within 5 days of returning to his family, following a stay a paediatric rehab centre.

Marta is 6 and can’t walk. She can barely drag herself a couple of metres across the dirt floor of her home. Her parents are well-meaning and love her dearly, but need to work all day to provide for their family, so she is left alone day after day to fend for herself, with no one to feed her, change her or to talk to her until her parents return around 6:30 in the evening.

Harry was “discovered” in his family home at the age of 21. His parents had left him alone for days. He hadn’t eaten or been changed, cleaned or even changed position, and no one had come to check on him. The last “food” he’d had was a drink of liquor his alcoholic father had given him before he left.

Can you imagine if just one of these cases occurred in Canada, the States, or any other developed country for that matter? In fact, I know that such cases do, on occasion, occur in developed countries and when they happen there is usually a huge outcry (as there should be). The difference is that these things happen many, many, many times a day in developing countries around the world, and no one seems to notice or be particularly concerned. We have no real numbers to say how often it happens, as there has been little-to-no research done to tell us. For the time being, I only have my own experience to share with you, and that of others who have worked in similar circumstances. And, truth-be-told, for every story I tell here I could tell you another dozen like it, just from my own limited experience. I really don’t think it’s that uncommon.

I don’t write this to be fatalistic or sensationalistic. But I have seen the unusual way people with experiences similar to my own speak about what they have seen in hushed voices, as if they don’t want others to know. It seems they don’t want to dwell on the negative, but want to present the positive changes that are happening. And positive changes are happening – I have seen some very positive changes occur in the last 8 years. Nevertheless, I think it is important we begin to speak more clearly and loudly about what still happens every day, many times a day, all around the world. Kids are still suffering. They are still dying and being abused, neglected and abandoned at an alarming rate, not because of their disability but because of lack of information and support.

So, "Why do we do what we do?"

Because these kids really need us. They need someone to step in and help them and their families. They need someone to speak up for them and to tell the world what is happening.
And because these kids aren’t just numbers or cases you (could) hear and see about on TV or on the internet. They are kids we know personally, many of whom we’ve come to love. Perhaps most importantly, we do what we do because it’s really not that difficult to help. These children can be given incredible new opportunities, just by providing their families with a little information and support, perhaps a wheelchair or other assistive devices and access to an education. I’m not saying we’ll change the world and make it all better with a wheelchair or a workshop, but lives can be changed much more easily than you’d think.

SO, given what you now know, I think the question should probably be “How could we NOT do what we do?”- now that, I wouldn't have an answer for.