Being Thankful!

A couple of weeks back, I had to go to Victoria Hospital. It seems like many of the corporates think that I just like waltzing around on my wheelchair, enjoying all the adulation and benefits that come along with it (not like there are any). But more importantly, they seem to think that I want to get a job with them only because I’m on the wheelchair and that makes me entitled to a job with them and not because I am otherwise eligible for the same! So they want me to get a certificate that certifies that I am “Disabled” person from one of the Government recognized hospitals.

They perhaps are justified in asking for this. For I’m sure that there are a lot people out there, trying to take undue advantage of the “benefits” that the “disabled” are supposed to get and thus, go about feigning a disability which only works out good for them.  But I suppose they, the Corporates, can work on presenting it all in a better manner and ensure that the whole process is handled a little tastefully. 

With this is mind, I, of course was quite irritable and was dreading the whole process. And when I went there, the start to the whole process wasn’t very encouraging. What with it being a Government hospital, the apathy was very evident. We were made to run around and were made to wait for hours, despite having been there much in advance.  The whole thing was getting on to my nerves and at one point, I just wanted to just get out of there without finishing the task for which I was there. But I of course couldn’t do that and had to put up with the ordeal and just work on getting my work done.

With nothing much to do, I just sat there and started looking around. The number of people who were coming for the same purpose as me was increasing. Up until then, I hadn’t been to any place where I could see so many differently abled people and looking at the crowd there I was initially alarmed. And then there were a whole lot of other patients with all kinds of ailments, moving around there and it definitely wasn’t a pleasant sight! I know that it was a hospital and one shouldn’t expect to see pleasant things. But considering the fact that it was the first time that I was in such a setup, one can imagine my anxiety. There were people of all ages. Little toddlers, teenagers, married people, old people with a lot of ailments like cerebral palsy,  visual, hearing and speaking impairment, mental ill health or psychological difficulties, physical disability to name a few! These people were primarily from the lower class with hardly any means to take care of their medical conditions and what it demanded. They had come there because that was the only place which they could afford and I don’t suppose they could even afford to take a second opinion. Even most of the “disabled” people who had come there belonged to the same category. They were born with something missing or had become” disabled” during the course of their lives. And because they were dependent on their folks for almost everything and because their folks were no longer in a position to afford them, they thought it made sense in availing whatever little the Government was offering as any money is good money.

All this made me realise that we, in the city, are often not even aware of a lot of things and take many things for granted.  We are given comfortable, often luxurious lives by our parents and still we complain about what we don’t have.  We have the advantage of being in the city and having had the exposure to a lot of things. We have technological awareness and make the utmost use of it. A lot of things are just call away.  Yet, we somehow are unhappy. We still crib about what could have been better.  We tend to compare ourselves to our counterparts, get competitive and work towards getting what they have and we don’t, whether or not what we actually need it. But I suppose we do it because we don’t want to be left behind and want to stay on par with them.

No one likes to be “disabled” be it in the city or outside of the city. But even with this, we, in the city have so many advantages that we can make use of. And the best of them all is the technological advancement. Today, what with everything becoming so science driven, life has become so much easier.  Be it the advanced hearing aids, eye care, prosthetics (artificial limbs),  rehabilitation, transplants being made easy,  better accessibility, to name a few, there has been a paradigm shift which is making lives of the differently abled a lot easier.  And importantly there is awareness. People are aware of where to go for what and also have the luxury of choice. Though not completely, I am sure with time, things are only going to get better.

Even with respect to employment, companies are diversity driven and are a lot more sensitive towards such people.  We have many companies being flexible to accommodate the needs of such people. Many companies are even going out of their way to ensure proper inclusion of eligible differently abled candidates in their workforce.

Some of them might be doing it only because of the Government mandate of having a certain % of differently abled people in their workforce. And many might be doing it because of their value system which wants them to go with the spirit of rightful inclusion. Although not all companies are adhering to it, I am sure in a few years, the employability ratio of the differently abled is going to get better.

I have been differently abled for almost 4.5 years now and like anyone else facing my plight, I suppose I too was depressed at some point, have cribbed a lot, cursed a lot of people and complained a lot about the changes that have happened post my accident. But it is only when I go to such places that I realise that I have lot to be thankful for. Sure, things have changed; people around me have changed and I am not in a position to do a lot of things that I otherwise would have done so easily. But then, things could have been a lot worse.  What if I was not in a position where my family couldn’t afford to give me all that they have? What if I was jobless throughout? What if my close ones were not around in my difficult times? Would I have gone off into depression? Would I have been able to fight back? Would there be anything to hope for?  “What if”- two words with endless possibilities.

Thankfully for me, my support system has been strong. My family and friends have made the whole ordeal bearable and with each day, there is something better to hope for. And my Super boss came to my rescue giving me back my job at the right time. And I suppose it is only because of all this, I have been able to keep myself buoyant.

So I guess, instead of always looking at people who are doing better than us and pushing ourselves to reach their level with angst, once in a while, we might as well look at people who hardly have anything that they need for a comfortable living and be thankful for what we have.  Trust me when I say this, doing this, gives you some amount of solace which would make you see things differently and you would see yourself facing life with a different kind of fervour altogether. Cheers to life!!