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.