The Paradox of Exclusionary Inclusion for PWDs

As the crusade for better social Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities  (PWDs) into the mainstream society continues to gain ground, there’s a need to guard against the green snakes in green grass phenomenon that might ultimately sabotage this laudable cause. To fail to do this is to settle for what may be called a “pseudo-inclusion” instead of the “full-inclusion” originally set out to achieve.

What Exactly is Pseudo-inclusion in this case?

Pseudo simply means something fake. Therefore Pseudo-inclusion is fake inclusion. This type of inclusion subtly cheats Persons with Disabilities by appointing people outside it to decide for PWDs matters.Again, pseudo-inclusion is the direct and indirect barring of Persons with Disabilities (because of their disabilities) from specific leadership positions in the larger society. It’s an irony of the Inclusion crusade that insults the sensibilities and human intelligence of Persons with Disabilities.

For the avoidance of doubt, I will say it again with emphasis: “the claim to Inclusion is false when we have abled persons wanting to have deciding says in disability issues. And these same people would turn around to stop persons with disabilities from exercising leadership in mainstream matters.

These veiled opponents of full inclusion always have deceptive arguments to defend their hidden motives.

In this piece, we look at one side of the exclusionary-inclusion theory otherwise referred to as fake-inclusion.

It’s high time we become increasingly concerned about this ridiculous occurrence in its various hidden appearances.

In defiance to the age-long adage that it is the person wearing the shoe that knows where it pinches, PWDs are being treated to a shameful spectacle where a barefooted people either take it upon, or have it unjustly entrusted on them to tell the shoe-wearers where the shoe pinches. In other words, to determine their fate.

The discerning mind will readily see this contradictory situation whereby supposed beneficiaries of inclusion end up excluded where it matters most – namely, the decision/policy making process. I have been there.

As a person with disability, you can probably relate to instances when your complaints of discrimination, stigmatization, etc, were replied with typical: “we will look into it”, “we will see the pastor”, “we will talk to leadership and find a solution“ comments? The odd thing is that neither leadership or whoever is mandated to resolve the problem has any real disability experience.

And sure enough, they go ahead as promised, and without your active contribution find a solution to the complaint.

Now, you are happy that the matter is resolved.

But wait.

Did you consider that the solution could have been better had your opinions and those of others in same shoes been considered in the resolution process?

Did you realize that without your active involvement, a basic rule of thumb has been violated in the solution finding process? You may or may not realize it. The point is, time and again, we see this kind of unjust thing happen. It’s called Pseudo-inclusion – fake inclusion.

The concept of Pseudo-Inclusion reminds me of my campus experience. I remember advocating for, and offering possible solutions for better inclusion of the Deaf section on campus fellowship.

It was good that leadership saw reason and there were improvements. The unfortunate side was that I wasn’t properly involved in the decision making process. I still remember the indignant feelings then. I was like: “what were they thinking”? By the way, I am not alone in this experience.

Meanwhile, similar scenarios replay at secular level – this time on an even worse scale.

We find this thing in government, we see it in politics, we encounter it in the academia – it is present everywhere. 

I love this slogan of the deaf cluster: “Nothing about us without us”.

 The same holds true for all the disability clusters.

Now here’s the challenge before us – the very ones wearing the shoe. The challenge is in walking the tough talk – nothing about us without us. We need to ask ourselves how effectively we have been doing that – walking the talk.

There are two ways to go about this:

First, leadership and stakeholders of the various disability clusters must wake up to the necessity of standing up for this sacred task.

Secondly, a customized training/mentoring system must be conscientiously put in place to revive and perpetuate the leadership succession sequence by equipping upcoming talents among members for the task of carrying on the full inclusion crusade.

We need to devise a functional system for identifying, nurturing and bringing together a new breed of “justice-minded” PWDs to sustain the fight against pseudo-inclusion.

Agreed, this battle will not be conceded by opponents on a platter. Therefore, we must be ready to go all out using every legitimate means at our disposal to ensure there’s really nothing about us apart from us.

It begins with ourselves. Are we ready? We ought to be.