Everyone has a disability, whether visible or invisible, no one is perfect. At some point in his or her life, an individual faces a limitation in his or her ability to interact with the environment, leading to psychological, intellectual, social or physical difficulties. There are different types of disabilities such as motor, psychic, mental, sensory and disabling diseases. Moreover, some disabilities are linked to birth and childhood, others to the aging of the population or to life accidents (car, sports, diseases,…). 15% of the world’s population, or more than one billion people, suffer from some form of disability. In Europe, disability affects between 80 and 120 million people. Without knowing it, many families are impacted by disability.
Life is life, which makes each individual on this earth unique. What a joy, it wouldn’t be very funny if we were all the same. On the other hand, we don’t all have the same ease of access to basic services. It’s enough to adapt, we might say, that’s what everyone does, moving at their own pace, step by step, but if society doesn’t make it easier, it’s not going to advance the inclusion of people with disabilities.
Integration vs. Inclusion of disability
Let’s talk about it, it’s one thing to integrate people with disabilities into society but including them in our daily lives is something else again! Inclusion means transforming society and removing barriers to accessibility for all in employment, social services, recreation, transportation, education and many other areas. It is time to change mentalities where the person with disability must normalize and make the constant effort to adjust to society, these existing norms must be shaken! It is a principle of equal rights and a democratic effort so that each person with or without a disability can participate in society in their own right.
Facing the barriers on one’s way of life is a constant struggle for any person with a disability and his or her entourage. In order to facilitate this daily struggle, it is high time that public, private and civil society integrate the needs of people with disabilities in their future plans. Here are some examples:
You are an entrepreneur, think about the accessibility of your establishment, product and service.
You are an employer, diversify your team. Via Diversicom[1], it’s even easier, this great team will help you find the rare pearl.
You are a politician, adapt the laws at your level, for a better inclusion.
You are a citizen, help your fellow man in a fragile situation when he needs help. Via the Helpper[2] platform, it’s easy and you can make yourself useful in your neighborhood and region.
More and more people are working to include everyone with a disability, it’s a great project that needs more and more hands in this daily fight. To do this, it is necessary to start at a very young age and to familiarize one’s loved ones with the disability. This is not so rare, since one child out of 5 is affected by disability. The less taboo there is, the better society will be able to appropriate disability and include it in the daily life of every citizen.
At Semlex for Education, we promote inclusion and if you would like to tell us about projects that promote the inclusion of people with disabilities, please do not hesitate to contact us!
1] http://www.diversicom.be
2] https://www.helpper.be/fr/
Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)
