Intellectual Disabled Day

WHEN I came to Kathmandu to work the Mentally Handicapped in Nepal my first impression was: "There seem to be only a few mentally handicapped people in Nepal!" Only to find out that also in Nepal like everywhere else in the world, there are people with a mental handicap. I discovered however that in Nepal mentally handicapped persons are often hidden away or locked inside. So to their difficult situation is added. "The worst disease that only human beings can experience: Being Unwanted" said so Mother Teresa.

The essence of human rights is to protect the weak and vulnerable from the tyranny of the strong and powerful. We can only do so by accepting the mentally handicapped and by abandoning discrimination, abuse, misunderstanding and neglect.

We celebrate Intellectual Disabled Day, because improvement of the fate of the mentally retarded is possible. By accepting the mentally handicapped, by helping them to find a place to exist and lead a meaningful life among us. We cannot cure the mentally handicapped child, but we can help, teach and train them. Pity and sympathy is not enough, they need help. And always something can be done. Isolation and mere pity leads to situations where as 3 year old boy with mental handicap could not sit, crawl, walk or grasp things. He could not even relate to his surroundings or make his whishes and needs noted. Although physically nothing was wrong with him, because he was never stimulated and challenged he never developed his possibilities. His loving but desperate parents kept him inside whilst working. Within three months of professional help and training he could walk and started to make contract with the world. A different boy emerged, a happy little boy with possibilities of progress. A boy looking for contact and encouragement from others, which made him accepted in his own family.

We celebrate international Intellectual Disabled Day, because the parents of a handicapped child need not feel abandoned and isolated anymore. Medical knowledge has proven that mental disability is caused by brain damage during pregnancy or early childhood. Parents are not gutty and should never be blamed. On this special day we try to convince the parents of the mentally handicapped that they are not alone. Everywhere in the world there are people in the same situation and everywhere there are people who are aware of their plight.

In Kathmandu and the districts professional and concerned trainers and teachers are to be found who will understand and support them. There are existing family counseling centres and opportunities, to share worries, experiences and hopes with other parents in the same situation. Help and advice is available and nobody need to be ashamed to ask for assistance. Most parents in our centre experience an enormous relief because of the understanding and support the receive.

Least of all we are celebrating Intellectual Disabled Day, because we want to make clear that also the mentally handicapped can be happy, specially when they feel accepted and included. They can enjoy life and most of them can give happiness to others.

In the centre of Association of the Welfare of the Mentally Retarded (AWMR) where I work we; staff, therapist, parents and children experience daily the caring and sharing, the achievements but most of all the joy of life.

Truus Boom, VSO Volunteer