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WHATDID
IT
ACCOMPLISH
?
•
by
Clayton Steep
The United Nations designated 1981 as the International Year of Disabled
Persons. But how much nearer to solution
are the problems of the world's 500 million disabled people?
•
N
OT FAR FROM
where l
am writing, a man sits
in a wheelchair on a
busy .downtown sidewalk.
This morning, like so many
other mornings, he painstak–
ingly maneuvered himself to
a position under a storefront
awning.
There he sits, slightly out of
the path of harried pedestrians.
His mind is absorbed in the con–
fused jangle of city noise and
the swirling fumes from passing
buses and automobiles. He sits a
spectator. Surrounded by socie–
ty, watching the world go by.
l wish he knew life offered more
than that.
The Staggering Figures
Five hundred million individu–
a.Is--one out of every nine persons
on earth-are disabled by birth,
accident or illness. Millions of
these suffer from arthritis, dis–
abling heart or blood press'ure
problems, chronic bronchitis, asth–
ma or emphysema, and diabetes.
Other millions are blind or visual–
ly impaired, or totally deaf. The
December 1981
list doesn't stop there; it goes on
to include other degenerative dis–
eases, birth defects, injuries from
accidents, orthopedic problems,
muscular and neurological affiic–
tions, mental retardation- that's
an awful lot of human suffering!
What is the reason for all these
debilitating handicaps?
The Plain Truth
magazine for
more than 45 years has pointed
out the reason for this sea of
human woe. Laws have been
broken-living laws. Sickness, dis–
eases, disabilities are the penalties
we pay for laws our ancestors,
other humans or we ourselves
have transgressed.
The Plain Truth
is commis–
sioned to aónounce a world in
which these problems will vanish.
Believe it or not, there is coming a
new age- the peaceful World
Tomorrow under the government
of God-when all people will be
taught the right way to live. The
result will be that sickness and ill
health will cease to plague the
human race.
The prophet Isaiah pictured that
time: "Then the eyes of the blind
shall be opened, and the ears of the
deaf shall be unstopped. Then shall
the lame man leap as an hart, and
the tongue of the dumb sing ..."
(lsa. 35:5-6).
But what about today? Chronic
ill health and disability are facts of
life millions deal with every day.
One reader of
The Plain Truth
wrote: "I know full well that the
ultimate hope of this world is the
Kingdom of God. J know that is the
only way true utopía can be
achieved. However, we still have
handicapped people in this present
age. What about them? Can we
just ignore them?"
No, we can!t! People have certain
responsibilities to fulfill in their
regard that have too long been
neglected.
Our Responsibilities
While member states of the United
N
ations are in accord- this is in
itself remarkable! - that much
needs to be done to better tbe qual–
ity of life for the disabled, waíting
for national governments to resolve
the problems is futile. A pamphlet
put out by the government of
Ontario, Canada, is right on target:
"The success of 1981 really
depends on wbat happens on the
community leve!. When it comes
down to it, the lives of disabled
people can only become more satis-
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