“A social inclusive society is defined as one where all people feel valued, their differences are respected, and their basic needs are met so they can live in dignity.” ~ The Social Inclusion Act, Canada
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Before talking about having a compassionate and inclusive society, there are multiple differences to be addressed first. One important aspect of an inclusive society is the integration of the people into the mainstream irrespective of their physical and mental abilities. Mother Nature is not equal to each human, some are not blessed with full functionality of their body from birth, while some are unfortunate to lose some of their body ability to incidents. Their physical disability becomes a challenge for them to be treated equally in the society. Due to which our society still has a long way to go to be termed as an ‘inclusive society’.
The presence of physical and social barriers prevent the integration and participation of the disabled people in the community. Right from places of education to public transport to office premises, all are built without any consideration for physically disabled ones. Lately, we have made significant progress in implementing barrier-free accessibility for disabled people in all walks of life, be it public transport or buildings. However, public transportation system is still not completely barrier-free for disabled people; for instance public transport buses are not wheel-chair friendly. The same can be said for older buildings that still are not disabled-friendly. I give kudos to the disabled who tread their way to offices daily despite so many physical barriers.
In my opinion a greater role should be played by private sector by opening avenues of opportunity for people with disabilities. Across industry sectors there are specific areas where people with disabilities can be incorporated into the workforce. The BPO sector has been a game changer in providing self-reliance to persons with disabilities. It is the only sector which has a very high diversity in terms of people who are differently-abled, and not on basis of gender, caste and creed. There are success stories of BPO companies that have almost 90% of workforce with disabilities. By enabling people with disabilities to become self-reliant and have opportunities to earn their own living we can work towards eradicating social barriers for them to be included in society, and in turn also help in economic growth of the country.
What I feel is that we as a society have literally treated differently-abled persons differently. Right from childhood a differently-abled person is treated differently, different schools for them, different seats in public transport, etc. What is important is that we become more compassionate towards them as humans rather than being sympathetic towards their disabilities. It is important to encourage the removal of physical and social barriers within the society, rather than to fix the disability or health of the concerned person. The more steps that we take to make their daily walks of life easier and make them feel equal; that will take us more closer to ultimately become a compassionate and inclusive society.