The Puzzle Piece of Disability
Published by
Hadija Esther Mwadzaya
on
Written by Teresa Mwangi
Puzzles are engaging tools that have been of great pleasure across all generations. Talk of jigsaw puzzles for the young and checkers for the old. A puzzle piece is uniquely shaped to fit only with another uniquely designed piece. This is an amazing fact that gets the players’ minds active, searching for a piece’s perfect fit.
While assembling, one is keen on the uniqueness of graphics or colours on the piece that needs to be harmoniously fit with another perfect piece to showcase a complete picture. Just like the puzzle pieces with their different graphics and shapes, so are our lives in this tapestry of life, designed by a wonderful creator, God. In each of our uniqueness, we are a beautiful blend of pink/green or multicolored intelligences and shortfalls intricately woven and intentionally put together by a beautiful, divine creator. Everything else in nature that He spoke into being also displays the same splendor.
To be puzzle pieces that make up a harmonious community, there is a need for us to understand our different makeup, enhancing belonging. This begins at the family level, for this is the foundational place where we are meant to know love, belonging, and grow to contribute to the beautiful picture of life. According to a UNFPA newsletter, persons with disability constitute 2.2% (0.9M) of Kenya’s population. They are an important part of the complete picture of Kenya’s community, as the Mastermind creator designed for us to live.
Types of disability
Impairments are vast and based on functional impact, there are categories such as ;
- Physical and mobility- affects a person’s movement, posture, or personal appearance. It mainly limits the person.
Examples: Cerebral palsy, limb amputations, spinal cord injuries
- Sensory disabilities – Impairments that affect the five basic senses, primarily vision and hearing. It limits an individual’s ability to take in or process information from their environment.
Examples: blindness, low vision, hearing loss, deafness
- Intellectual disabilities- a condition that affects learning, reasoning, and adaptive functioning, impacting daily living, social, and conceptual skills.
Examples: Down syndrome
- Learning disabilities- Specific neurological impairments that affect the brain’s ability to receive, process, store, and respond to information, often unrelated to overall intelligence.
Solutions…..
No human being should be reduced to their limitation because there is an indelible purpose carved out in every heart that is not bound by physical impairment. With gratitude to research and technology, there are ways to correct, support, enhance, connect, and embrace our brothers and sisters with disabilities.
Solutions towards disability are not to cure but to alleviate symptoms and improve quality of life.
- Therapy- Customized interventions provide targeted support to maximize their physical function, develop coping strategies, achieve emotional well-being, and maintain independence in daily living.
- Removing environmental and social barriers that hinder persons with disabilities from flourishing in their uniqueness. This can be through.
- Assistive technology and equipment – mobility aids like wheelchairs, visual aids like braille, hearing aids, prosthetics
- Physical accessibility to places within homes, schools, roads, and buildings. For example, ramps, accessible hallways
- Inclusive education- Education centers are open to all children with the necessary resources so that children with disabilities are not segregated during learning.
- Social inclusion and community support – Through advocacy and collaboration with each other in our different abilities, we can create platforms for them to flourish.
Why does this matter?
Dear parent, at times it can be troubling to know how to handle our very own who are disabled or how to be of support to our neighbor, friend, or even how to perceive persons of disability. You are not alone, and we are all on a journey of learning how to be part of the complete picture that our divine creator purposed. In all this, there is a hope and a way to go about it.
I am reminded of a quote from our Archbishop Ole Sapit: “Every society reveals its theology by how it treats its most vulnerable members.”
There is no complete community without our brothers and sisters with disabilities. Persons with disabilities also make a great contribution to this beautiful tapestry of life.
We are stronger and better together.
Assembling of the puzzle pieces……
In Luke 14:21-23, the master said to His servant, “ ‘Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame.’
22 “‘Sir,’ the servant said, ‘what you ordered has been done, but there is still room.’
23 “Then the master told his servant, ‘Go out to the roads and country lanes and compel them to come in, so that my house will be full.’
In the Master’s table, there is room for all to dine and contribute their share. Let us want to see the heart, be informed, and embrace full inclusion of all.
In the uniqueness of the puzzle piece you are, will you make room in your table?
