Living with a disability in Indo-Canadian society

| Updated: Aug 13, 2015, 13:35 IST
Living with a disability in Indo-Canadian society
As a Canadian born with a permanent physical disability, I have been able to face and overcome many challenges posed by my disability. Canada's education system has provided me with an equal opportunity to pursue an education like any other physically abled child. It has enabled me to recognize my strengths and weaknesses, pursue my potential and achieve the goals of my chosen program of study (business).

Resources such as specialized equipment, walkers and accessible transportation have allowed me to be independent as much as possible. For instance, specialized transportation has permitted me to take classes at Simon Fraser University's different campuses without having to rely on family members to drive me to my classes. My walker has also eliminated the mobility barrier created by my disability letting me travel great distances.

Although, the Canadian lifestyle has allowed me to live as much of a barrier-free life as possible, I continuously face a challenge when being accepted by the Indo-Canadian community. Sadly, even in a country as advanced as Canada, some Indo-Canadians fail to recognize individual differences and the opportunities available to persons with disabilities. Instead the biases that they hold about people with disabilities overpower their ability to overcome the belief that individuals with disabilities can also live normal lives. As a result, Canadians like me are a victim of their biased opinions and constantly judged based on their disability; not on their abilities and talents.

For example, when out in the community, some Indo-Canadians constantly stare at me making me realize that I am different and hence feel unwelcomed. Occasionally, some even come up to my family to ask questions or make rude and hurtful comments about my disability. The typical questions asked are: "Can she talk? Can she see and hear? Can she walk? Can she eat on her own? Can she understand everything? Does she attend school?" By now people should know that they have no right to ask such humiliating questions.

Many Canadian schools, especially business schools, now address the importance of embracing diversity and how different individuals can potentially contribute to the success of organizations. For instance, since individuals from diverse backgrounds who perceive things differently, use different approaches to solve problems, firms that hire these individuals can exploit their knowledge and utilize the innovative and newly acquired problem-solving techniques to their advantage. Yet, the concept of "embracing diversity" just tends to remain as an essential component of the school curriculum because its application in the "real world" is often overlooked or disregarded. Thus, in the "real world", individuals with differences are either treated poorly or underestimated in terms of their capabilities.

As a society, we must now strive to create a community that is inclusive and barrier-free for all individuals. This will, however, only be possible once we start accepting individual differences and embracing diversity. In doing so, we must first put aside our deeply rooted biases that we have about certain groups and instead allow individuals to showcase their talents and skills before making judgments about them based on their appearance.

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