Some years ago, there used to be a blind man begging on Regent Street. For that matter, in the past several physically disabled people could be found begging on the streets of Georgetown. That is now almost completely non-existent. These days, the street beggars are mostly drug addicts and able-bodied men, women and to a lesser extent children.
The various groups for people with disabilities have been working hard to ensure that they can access education and/or become skilled and where possible earn a living. Support to help them deal with their disabilities whether these are genetic or result from an accident is also readily available. These groups have also been working hard to remove the stigma attached to disability and the discrimination it attracts. A reduction in the number of physically disabled beggars in the street is testimony to the success of what they do.
On September 30, this newspaper published a report based on an interview done with Mr Mark Archibald who is blind. More than being testimony to the success of the West Berbice Community-based Rehabilitation (CBR) Programme to which he once belonged, Mr Archibald is a beacon not only to the disabled people he ably represents but to all of us.
He told this newspaper that he was not born blind but lost his sight as an adult while employed with the Guyana Defence Force (GDF). Immediately thereafter, and for the next three years he went through a mentally dark period, where he felt he would not be able to cope. However, with the help of the CBR group he finally found his way and has been unstoppable since. In fact as he told Stabroek News, he came to the realization that “not because I lost my sight my life is over. I still have worth and I realized that there were so many things I can accomplish if I believed in myself.” And he went right ahead and began to put that into practice.
The father of five now has a viable garden, rears chickens, does odd jobs around his home and is an active community activist. President of the Disabled People’s Network, he plays blind cricket and has been vocal in lobbying for improvements in his home village and immediate surroundings.
Mr Archibald does not pretend to do all of this on his own, he very clearly states that he has the help and support of his family, community and members of his network. Nevertheless, there are few people, even those with all their physical faculties intact who get as much accomplished as Mr Archibald, and in many cases, unfortunately, it’s for want of trying.
This former army man’s current life provides a hefty dose of inspiration to anyone who lacks it. It’s an example of why we should all value our sight and endeavour to use the faculties we possess while we still have them.
Today is World Sight Day, an international day of awareness, held annually on the second Thursday of October to focus attention on the global issue of avoidable blindness and visual impairment. ‘Vision 2020: The Right to Sight’ has declared that this year’s theme is ‘Gender and Eye Health – Equal Access to Care,’ given that nearly two-thirds of the blind people in the world are female and that in many countries men have better access to eye care than women.
Vision 2020 is a joint initiative of World Health Organisation (WHO) and the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness (IAPB) along with other UN agencies, governments, eye care organizations, health professionals, philanthropic institutions and individuals working together in partnership to eliminate avoidable blindness.
The observance of World Sight Day is used to help raise public awareness of blindness and vision impairment as major international public health issues and influence governments to participate in and designate funds for national blindness prevention programmes.
According to WHO, every five seconds one person in the world goes blind. One child goes blind every minute. It is estimated that over seven million people become blind every year. Some 314 million people worldwide live with low vision and blindness and of these 45 million are blind. About 87% of the world’s visually impaired live in developing countries.
Blindness is the inability to see and the leading causes of chronic blindness include cataract, glaucoma, age-related macular degeneration, corneal opacities, diabetic retinopathy, trachoma, and eye conditions in children (eg caused by vitamin A deficiency). WHO says age-related blindness is increasing throughout the world, as is blindness due to uncontrolled diabetes. On the other hand, blindness caused by infection is decreasing, as a result of public health action. Three-quarters of all blindness can be prevented or treated.