Disabilities in the Post 2015 Millennium Development Goals Agenda

Wednesday, 28th August 2013

Ultimately, I found that a general umbrella theme emerged from the discussions of that evening and they were centred on these two words: “Human Rights”. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights states in its very first article that “all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights”, a sentence which I find sums up quite well the point that the panellists were trying to make. Why do we fight for the rights of so many, so passionately? Why do we do our best to try and make a difference for people who we may perceive as being disadvantaged (poverty stricken, etc) or disabled? Why do we also connect to people easily when we find a virtue that we like about them, or the fact that they have an appealing personality? I have come to realise that everything we do, and the intensity with which we do it, reflects a great deal of what we want for ourselves. I defend the rights of others because I want my rights to be safe. I speak out for others because I want to be heard. I respect the beauty in others because I have that in me too, and I would like people to see it. So, the session today was really not just about understanding more about the topic of disability, but it ended up becoming an integral lesson on how we as human beings exercise our human rights; subtly and softly. It is these intricacies of human nature that show how freedom and equality really are the intrinsic nature of the soul.