Yakup, who is a civil servant in Bilecik Provincial Directorate of National Education, lives alone in Bilecik and apart from his family in İzmir due to his job. Like every disabled citizen, he struggles with important problems in daily life. After he lost his sight 9 years ago, he realized that the state, society and technology companies do not care enough for the visually impaired and he has been an activist on the subject since then.
He shared with us his thoughts on solving the problems faced by the disabled. Today, on December 3, International Day of Persons with Disabilities, we would like to draw attention to this issue.
Previously, he made an important call to technology companies “to make everything more accessible” through Webtekno.
His call was taken into account by some quarters.
We are quoting his explanations from his own mouth: Being disabled is not just a lack of a limb, it is much more.
For example, it is not enough to close your eyes to understand a visually impaired person, and it is not enough to just close your ear to understand a hearing impaired person. When I say this, a lot of people have completely negative thoughts saying, “Of course dear, you’re the one experiencing this.”
However, being disabled is much more than its pros and cons. From the outside, a person without any disability seems superior to me in terms of sense organs, since I am visually impaired. However, since the 4 sense organs in me try to make up for the lack of vision as well as fulfilling their own duties, I can sometimes be superior to that person. This shows that in order to understand a disabled person or to meet a need of a disabled person, it is necessary to address the existing limb, not the missing limb.
There are serious problems in societies in this regard. For example, an old uncle came to me and said, “Son, give me the walking stick in your hand, I will carry it; it will not be a burden to you.”
It has nothing to do with education level. An engineer asked me, “Would it work if a flashlight was produced for the visually impaired?” he had asked. When he can’t see it himself, he lights the lantern and sees it, and he thinks we are too.
In fact, the majority of the society, both in our country and in the world, is sensitive enough about the disabled. However, because there is not enough consciousness, we encounter such tragicomic events.
You know, there is a saying, “How you become a nation, you will be governed”. Unfortunately, the states are the same in this regard. In the eyes of society, the states are the same as the disabled.
Society helps people with disabilities only in good faith, without trying to understand them. The states think that I served the disabled when they only give disability pension, when they implement discounts in some places and make positive discrimination in relation to the disabled.
Obviously, both the society and the state have great responsibilities regarding the disabled. Above all, we need to be understood. Because while everyone is designing this life, they exclude the disabled and then try to do something for the disabled with additions. Most of these things do not work because the disabled people are not understood enough.
In tourism, the disabled should be included in the star status of hotels. The disabled road feature should also be added to the navigation applications.
When a technological product produced does not appeal to the disabled, that product should be included in the scope of defective goods by the relevant institutions. More importantly, instead of rewarding those who do something about the disabled, mechanisms that punish those who do not should be established.
In addition to all these, in order to develop more effective policies regarding the disabled, it is necessary for the states to exclude the disabled from the scope of social assistance. Our problems and solutions need to be handled not by a single institution or a ministry, but by a more competent authority that can coordinate all institutions and all ministries.
If these mechanisms are implemented, much more efficient work can be done with half of the budget allocated by the states for the disabled.
However, since we disabled people are often treated as potential beggars, these demands are not taken into account at all. I am a disabled person who is at peace with himself personally. For example, I always say how happy those who see it are that I am sad that I do not see them. I’ve already overcome my own problems.
I realize that I am disabled only when people do not understand me. Rest assured, this obstacle is harder than not seeing it. You know, when they say “the main obstacle is in the brain”, because the real obstacle is in the brain, the most disabled people suffer.
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