Note: If you missed last week’s blog, this is part two of a three-part series on why we train local people in developing nations to provide basic therapy services for people with disabilities in their own communities. The series follows the steps I take as a physical therapist when I evaluate a patient. Click here for last week’s blog Creating the Problem List.

Last week we talked about the need for rehabilitation services in local communities. There is a need. However, when we just approached our work from that identified problem, we realized our plan wasn’t working. Something was missing. We had people we trained to work with people with disabilities, but there was a disconnect in how we were meeting those needs.

We reassessed the situation and realized another problem was the perspective of the people in their community towards people with disabilities. Here are some of the obstacles we discovered and found we weren’t approaching the work from the same perspective as the local people:

• A disability is a curse from God, either for their personal sin or that of a family member.
• Women are blamed for bearing a child with a disability.
• Pity is extended towards people with disability.
• People with disabilities are angels sent to teach us something. 

Not everyone held all these beliefs, but all of them had at least one of them. When we took time to talk about these factors, people began to cry as their perspective was changed. They realized the following: 

• People with disabilities are created in the image of God for a purpose.
• The local rehabilitation promoters learned they needed to approach their work with people with disabilities out of love and compassion and not pity for others. 
• People with disabilities are people, just like you and me, with desires, dreams, and needs, and they deserve the opportunity to learn to do all they can for themselves and participate in their community, even if it looks different than how others do it.

Through this journey, we all did some personal reflection and looked at how our own personal perspective about disability and people with disabilities could harm rather than help in the work we were doing. We continue to grow in this area and become more aware of the blind spots in our lives because of what we’ve learned or seen around us. We hope this has helped us to see others as they really are and love them better, in addition to providing better services to meet their needs for rehabilitation.  

What about you? What is your perspective towards people with disabilities? Where does that come from? How would a person with a disability be received in your church? Could they maneuver around the facilities if they needed to use a wheelchair?