01Aug

Story of a positive discrimination

Disability in Afghanistan

Natural disasters, accidents, poverty, wars always bring pain and hardship. Those who suffer most are the weakest, children, women, the elderly, the disabled. Afghanistan, with over forty years of war and instability, is no exception.

I have been living in Afghanistan since 1990 and work with people who have been disabled directly by war – such as victims of landmines – or with motor problems due to disease, accidents, congenital causes. The work consists of physical rehabilitation (physiotherapy, prostheses, wheelchairs), and social inclusion (through school, vocational courses, micro-loans, employment and sports) to reintegrate the disabled person into society with a dignified role. This is the final and most difficult goal.

Afghan society does not reject the disabled individual as such, but prejudice, ignorance, poverty and architectural barriers make life extremely difficult for him.

 

He is considered unreliable, psychologically unstable, physically inadequate. He is offered pity, not rights.

 

Opportunities for success are consequently slim. Inexistent if it is a woman.

How positive discrimination arises

Absolutely convinced that even those who start out disadvantaged can succeed if given the right opportunities, we thought that such a dramatic situation needed an ‘extreme’ response. This is how the policy of positive discrimination was born: training and employing only people with disabilities, men and women, in any profession: caretakers, nurses, physiotherapists, prosthetists, doctors, accountants, cleaners.

 

The rehabilitation centres of the International Red Cross now have over 800 employees, almost all with disabilities. They work offering others example and hope.

 

This policy, which began with working with the International Red Cross, continues with NOVE in the fields of education and sport. NOVE has built sports halls and basketball courts, organised national tournaments and sent Afghan wheelchair basketball players to international tournaments.

I am often asked whether it is easy to select people with disabilities in Afghanistan. Not always. Of the candidates, who generally lack work experience, one has to look for potential. Motivation, willingness to prove oneself and pride usually compensate for the lacking qualities, but one has to rely mostly on intuition. I can say that I have been disappointed a few times.

Soraya

The story of Soraya, a girl suffering from polio, is one I will not forget.

About ten years ago she applied to become a physiotherapist. She passes the written test but the interview is disastrous. Very shy, her eyes always downcast, hunched, she answers in a low voice and monosyllables, with her headscarf pulled tightly forward on her forehead to hide her face. Alarmed, I wonder how she will behave during physiotherapy classes (mixed) and with patients. In an attempt to put her at ease and get a few words in, I ask her what her life dream is. After a moment’s hesitation she lights up: “TV announcer.”

I still wonder now why that answer made me decide. I think because of the courage she had shown in revealing a dream that seemed so unlikely to me, considering her appearance, voice and attitude. All around me I see ironic smiles; I have to struggle to convince my colleagues.

She enrols in the physiotherapy course, graduates and becomes a therapist. She is good, but without excelling. Until the day she is assigned to the department for the for children with cerebral palsy, the busiest and most demanding. There she is transformed. She learns, is precise in diagnosis and treatment, patient and helpful with the mothers, a hard worker. In short, the best in her group. I predict she will be the next head of department.

When I ask her if she still dreams of being on TV, she laughs.

Alberto Cairo, partner and board member of NOVE

Physiotherapist, for 33 years delegate of the International Committee of the Red Cross in Afghanistan, historical member of NOVE

Categories: Editorials