Driver’s Crutches

Last Friday, I took a ride behind the tricycle driver, on my way home. Driver asked me whether I’m also a person with disability. The response would be pretty obvious as he stopped to let me hop in with my white cane unfolded and being folded as I sat to take the ride. When I said, “yes”, he told me he is one too. That got me thinking. Does he have some difficulty with vision? That would be dangerous on the road. Does he have difficulty with hearing? How would he hear horns? He told me he has crutches. How does he kick? Oh, I better quit worrying. He seemed to be competent on his trade anyway. He went on ranting that PWDs don’t get much benefits from the government. I’m not really sure if he means the local government or the national government. But from context, I think he means the local unit. I immediately felt that it was not quite a fair statement. I would not want to be cynical. I felt the need to direct him to more positive appreciation of government programs; but would not want to risk an argument with a fellow PWD who certainly has legitimate basis for his complaints. I mean, if that was his experience, who am I to tell him it was wrong?

As we rumbled and took a u-turn along MT Villanueva Ave. to take a turn to Jacob Ext., he went on to tell me about his crutches which were donated by the LGU. With utter frustration, he told me how easily it broke after a few months. I tole him that that’s how it usually goes with free stuff. I actually have a similar experience with a white cane distributed by a government agency, which in turn was among donations from a religious organization. The metal pegs could easily bend and the rubber that connects the pegs could as easily tear and get cut. Well, there went my free cane. Driver went on to tell me that he improvised by making his own crutches. As he told me, he bought a thousand peso worth of stainless steel and took some parts from the condemned crutches and made for himself a sturdy and more reliable support for walking. He also told me that the old crutches were actually no good because they hurt his armpits when he used them. The conversation further went on with laughter about the antics of a mutual friend, another PWD. I got off with him not taking my coins. Thanks for the free ride.

I would not completely agree with Mr. Driver. Because I was a PWD, I was entitled to free tuition with stipend through college. Provincial government took care of it all. The kind lady who would process my document every semester would always cheerfully come up to me to talk every time we would see each other around downtown. I wouldn’t say that it was all smooth, but that was a big help. I had more money than most of my classmates; and I didn’t have to worry about my exam permits. Certainly, there were others like me. Finding a job after graduation was another story. But, at least, I got through college. That was already something. I think the program still exists.

That’s the picture. Citizens are dissatisfied with crumbling crutches from a government that gives out scholarship grants. On one hand, a pair of strong and tough crutches are what Mr. Driver really needs. It’s a basic need for him to go about. On the other hand, he has been fortunate enough to not have been barred from engaging in public transport for fare. In fact, he was able to afford to buy the materials to make his own walking support. Still, would it not have been better if he did not have to make his own and the devices distributed to him was of dependable quality in the first place?

Could it be that the people petition for the simple, yet the policy makers push for the sustainable? You have to admit that the logic behind long-standing sustainability is quite laudable. Of course, it is ideal for the people along with the whole community to advance towards empowerment. But then, how could they even move to advance a significant distance without the basic instruments to scale up the levels of education and employment? After all, the foundation has to be firm to strengthen the structure of the storeys.

July is Persons with Disability Month in Naga city.

““Behold, I am bringing them from the north country, and I will gather them from the remote parts of the earth, among them the blind and the lame,” Jeremiah 31:8