"It Is Persons With Disabilities That Are First to Die"

May 1st is Blogging Against Disabilism Day.  As Diary of a Goldfish explains: "This is the day where all around the world, disabled and non-disabled people will blog about their experiences, observations and thoughts about disability discrimination. In this way, we hope to raise awareness of inequality, promote equality and celebrate the progress we've made."

Stories and photos of refugees, of shell-shocked civilians, often aim at nothing more than pity, treating human suffering as an amusement, something to distract us from our daily routine, something to make us feel momentarily virtuous for the simple fact that we care.

Lord knows, this blog sometimes does the same.  (And, I admit, will continue to do so.  After all, who can resist the pleading photo of a refugee?)

That certainly doesn't obviate the question, tho, of how to rise above pity.  Of how to treat human beings as human beings.  Of how to act.

First, by acknowledging that we are all the same - the same love and hate, the same hope and fear.  What happens there happens here, what happens to them happens to us.

Second, we all deserve the same basic rights - and it's hard to think of a group whose rights are more often violated than refugees and internally displaced persons.  And, amongst refugees and IDPs, it's hard to think of a group whose rights are more often ignored than the disabled.

According to Chris Stubbs, of the Mentally Handicapped Children & Families Project in Sri Lanka:

“In all wars and disasters, it is persons with disabilities that are first to die; persons with disabilities that are the first to get disease and infection; and it is persons with disabilities who are the last to get resources and medicines when they are handed out. They are treated as the bottom of the pile.”

(To learn more, please see the report Disabilities Among Refugees and Conflict-Affected Populations.)

Second, by not simply reading the stories, but actually doing something.  The report mentioned above includes a phenomenal list of resources.

The organization I've come across in the field is Handicap International - see here to learn more about what they do, and here to learn more about how to support their work.

So, no pity, but a call to action.  Do something today.  It doesn't have to be a donation - sign a petition against landmines and clusterbombs, or see here for more suggestions.