UNDERSTANDING PERSONS

WITH DISABILITIES
Persons with disabilities or PWDs are
persons who in their own capacity are
physically or mentally-challenged
individuals. The manifesto of the
international rights of person with
disabilities defines it as “Any person who
has a physical or mental impairment
that substantially limits one or more
major life activities”. (ohchr.org)
Being such, it does not
determine them from
acquiring the status which is
normally afforded to their
non-physically challenged
counterparts. The differences
that exists between two
classes are the ways of doing
tasks, but the end results
remain the same.
“Persons with disabilities face discrimination
and barriers that restricts them from
participating in society on an equal basis with
others everyday. They are denied their rights
to be included in the general school system, to
be employed, to live independently in the
community, to move freely, to vote, to
participate in sport and cultural activities, to
enjoy social protection, to access justice, to
choose medical treatment and to enter freely
into legal commitments such as buying and
selling properties”.
 A disproportionate number of persons with
disabilities live in developing countries, often
marginalized and in extreme poverty.

The protection guaranteed in other human

rights treaties, and grounded in the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights, should apply to
all. Persons with disabilities have, however ,
remained largely ‘ invisible’, often side-lined
in the rights debate and unable to enjoy the
full range of human rights,(ibid).
Disabled persons have the same rights
as other people place in society. They
should be able to live freely and as
independently as possible. This must be
the concern of everyone, the family,
community and all government and
non- government organizations.
Disabled person`s rights must never be
perceived as welfare services by the
Government (ncda.gov.ph).
 PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES
AND THEIR RIGHTS
Chapter 1,Section 4,Par. a of R.A. 7277
defines who are the persons with
disabilities.

A. Disabled persons are those suffering

from restriction or different abilities, as a
result of manner, physical sensory
impairment, to perform an activity in the
manner or within range considered
normal for a human being.
B. The manifesto of the
international rights of person with
disabilities defines it as “Any person
who has a physical or mental
impairment that substantially limits
one or more major life activities”.
(ohchr.org)
C. As provisioned in R.A. 7277, PWDs are invested
with the following rights and privileges:

1. equal employment opportunities

2. sheltered employment

3. equal opportunities for apprenticeship

4. technical-vocational training

5. granting of additional 25% tax deductions to

private companies hiring PWD subject to conditions
stipulated by law.
 THE PLIGHT OF THE PWDs

One of the marginalized sectors in the

Philippine society is the sector of the
persons with disabilities (PWD’s).
“Persons with disability often belong to
the poorest segments of the population
as noted by the United Economic and
Social Commission for Asia and the
Pacific (UN-ESCAP).
The report of Reyes and Tabuga contained the
following:

1. The common cause of mobility impairment

was polio.
2. Majority of the mobility impaired were
using assistive devices. The most popular
devices used were manual wheelchairs and
crutches.
3. Half of the visually impaired respondents
were totally blind.
4. The most common assistive device
used by visually impaired respondents
was the Braille typewriter.
5. Majority of the hearing impaired
respondents were born deaf.
6. The deaf respondents were more
knowledgeable in the English language
than in Filipino.
7. The average educational attainment
of PWDs is low.
8. The PWDs have a low employment rate.
9. Among the types of impairment, the
mobility impaired had the largest percentage
(at 30 percent) inclined toward some types of
business.
10. The key to determining the income of
PWDs are gender and education. In deeper
analysis of the survey data, Soya and
Yamagata concluded that female PWDs are
less privileged than male PWDs even with the
same level education, age, marital status, and
type of disability.
The Reality of Death and Dying

One of the topics that is least discussed

is the idea of Death. The Bible`s
prescription about death is on dying
and living, and the life after death. This
unit discusses the empirical side of
dying──its cultural practices, cultural
expressions, and attitudes about death
and dying.
Filipinos do not talk much about death
but death is real; no can escape from it.
It is inevitable. Imagine a world where
no one dies. We will encounter old age,
sufferings, all sorts of pain due to old
age, and many others. Yet despite the
odds of eliminating death from our
reality to become immortal, science and
technology worked hard to add more
years to life believing that more can be
achieved in life. Do we have to add
more years to life or more life to years?
 CULTURAL ASPECTS OF
DEATH AND DYING

MONOTHEISTIC RELIGIONS
-It is a belief system professing one
Supreme Being. Other religions are
polytheistic.
 Ancestor Worship

The premise of ancestor worship is based on

understanding that the course of life is a cyclical
not linear. Those who are dead may not be seen
physically, but are alive in different world and/or
can reincarnate in new births. Ancestor worship
in various forms can be found n many parts of
the world and is very strong in parts of Africa and
Asia. Many Native Americans and Buddhists alike
believe that the co-exists with the dead.
 A central theme in all ancestor worship is that the
lives of the dead may have supernatural powers over
those in the living world – the ability to bless, cure,
give, or take life. In some cultures, the worship of
the dead is important, and includes making offerings
of food, money, clothing, and blessings. In China,
there the annual observance of “sweeping the
graves” and as its name denotes, it is a time for
people to tend the graves of the departed ones. In
Mexico, there is “The Day of the Dead” (Dia de los
Muertos”, as holiday that focuses on gatherings of
family and friends to pray for and remember those
who have died. This is similar to Philippines
celebration of the All Soul’s Day and the All Saint’s
Day. The intent of the celebration is to encourage
visits by the souls of the departed so that those souls
will hear the prayers and the comments of the living
directed at them.
Buddhism and Hinduism

These two systems both believe that death

is not seen as the end of life, rather it is
merely the end of the body we inhabit in this
life. The spirit remains and seeks attachment
to a new body and a new “life”. When the soul
is reincarnated, karma will dictate the quality
of life that a person will lead. This is the result
of the past and the accumulation of positive
and negative action.
 Cultural Expressions of Grief
Rules in Egypt and Bali, both Islamic countries,
are opposite: in Bali women may be strongly
discouraged from crying, while in Egypt women
are considered abnormal if they don`t nearly
incapacitate themselves with demonstrative
weeping.
In Japan, it is extremely important not to show
one`s grief for a number of reasons. Death
should be seen as a time of liberation and not
sorrow, and should bear up under misfortunate
with strength and acceptance.
 One never does anything to make someone
else uncomfortable.

In Latin cultures including that of the

Philippines, it may be appropriate for woman to
wail, but men are not expected to show overt
emotion due to “machismo”.

In China, hiring professional wailers may be

customary in funerals, which may sound odd,
but this was also a common practice in
Victorian England.
 Types of Death

Death in Warfare (Dulce et decorum in

patria mori)
- “It is sweet and right to die for your country”.
This type of death is shown in the context of
patriotism. In the military sense, dying in the line
of duty is considered honorable and heroic.
 Martyrdom
- A is somebody who suffers persecution
and/or death for advocating, renouncing,
refusing to renounce, and/or refusing to
advocate a belief or cause of either religious or
secular nature.

Euthanasia
- Also known as mercy-killing, is the practice
intentionally ending a life in order to relieve
pain and suffering.
Death with Dignity
- is a legally physician-assisted dying
(commonly referred to as physician-assisted
suicide) with certain restriction or
conditionalities. The state of Oregon in the
U.S. is one of the first jurisdictions in the world
to permit some terminally ill patients to
determine the time of their own death.
 The Logic of Death
Death is gloomy, death is a thief. These
statements and other similar construction are
intently and inherently not compatible with each
other. The prediction of the subject requires
identical relations, meaning to say that the
subject and predicate must be wholly and truly
identical. But death is not gloom nor death is
sad. Furthermore death is not a thief. Death and
gloom entails deprivation of something.
A concept is said to be a deprivation of
something when such something when
such something is naturally a part of the
ideas to be deprived. Unlike the
relationship of sight and blind, life and
death are mutually exclusive ideas.
Death is not the termination or deprivation
of life. Rather death is the reckoning of
life’s achievement.
 Concluding Statements

Death has to be understood in itself. The

negativistic perspective of death should not
be viewed as such for this kind of view only
renders death as something that cannot be
known. Man has the tendency to evade the
discussion on a topic that is learned towards
the negative. The more we maintain a
negative view of death the lesser we know
about it.
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