Talking
about the disabled, many may not know there are many forms and levels of
disabilities. Basically, they can be simply divided into mentally
disabled and physically disabled. A person is considered as mentally disabled
when he/she is incapable of giving informed consent because of mental illness,
mental retardation or emotional disturbance. A person with disabilities which
limit or impair the ability to walk is deemed to be physically disabled. To
different forms and levels, respective treatment and rehabilitation will be
provided in order to help those live a smooth daily life.
The
disabled are often associated with discrimination. Fortunately, our society
does not discriminate against the disabled. On the contrary, the government has
detailed and clear guidelines and procedures to support and help the disabled
and the family with disabled members by providing special education, finance,
employment and medical services. She also sets up different organizations and
hotlines for different types of disabilities so that when problems crop up,
they have a channel to turn to.
Some
deem that the disabled are of no use to our society and are wasting tax-payers’
money. This ridiculous and unreasonable argument is fundamentally flawed. The
disabled can still work to earn a living and produce output for our society.
Their contribution to the society can be as much as those given by ordinary
people. Some serve as social workers after treatment and rehabilitation to help
others while some even gain reputation and gold medals in overseas competition.
Furthermore, whether the disabled can contribute to our society or not, they
deserve our respect and care simply because they are a part of us. We should
never discriminate against them and say that they put additional burden on
tax-payers.
All
ordinary people have their imperfect parts; all the disabled have their ordinary
parts. We are in no circumstances more privileged. From now on, we should treat
the disabled like we want to be treated.
