Living with a disability can be challenging. Many times, people who do not live with disabilities may have a hard time understanding the plight of those who do. Thus, the personal stories of those who are living with a disability can often offer a refreshing perspective on the meaning of life and the triumph of enduring an entirely new way of living.
Mark Archibald’s story is one such. The 49-year-old of Number 42 Village, West Coast Berbice was not born with a disability, but he became visually impaired in 1986 while a member of the Guyana Defence Force.
While he has had to adjust his life, he has not let his disability put him down. When he first lost his sight, he said, it was a challenge, since he basically went from seeing to not seeing. He recalled that he was devastated and depressed for two years.
However he subsequently recognized that it made no sense to isolate himself.
“Some friends disassociated themselves and some relatives were not there. Some persons might believe you will become a burden on them. [I] cannot be a burden on them so I try to make myself as independent as possible. I get a wife and children to take care of,” Archibald told this newspaper in a recent interview.
And for years, he was able to take care of his family from his farming proceeds – rearing birds and his vegetable garden. However, with the current weather, he said, the garden is not producing as before. Nevertheless, he has been able to get some public assistance and is also getting some help from the ex-soldiers’ association.
And while he is visually impaired, Archibald said it has been easy for him to do his planting and reaping, because of what he learned in the army. He gave an example of having to wear a blindfold and being made to strip a weapon, disassemble and then reassemble it. “So with the blindness, you see yourself like you are blindfolded,” he said.
Though it was hard, Archibald was able to send all of his five children to school.
A very positive Archibald said that while persons living with a disability, particularly those living with no sight, face numerous challenges every day, “you never hear a blind person commit suicide. They recognize that life is more than that.
“Many think that oh if I blind is best I dead. If they put their foot in that shoe. Look through different spectacles, there are many things you can still do. I am a living testimony.”
He considers himself an inspiration to others living with disabilities.
He is an elder in his church and also preaches from time to time. He is currently learning to use the computer and while it is a bit challenging he is of the firm belief that even with a disability, persons should not allow themselves to be left behind.
Disabled People’s Network
Currently, Archibald is the President of the Disabled People’s Network (DPN) in Region Five which was established in 2008 out of the Guyana Community-Based Rehabilitation Programme. The latter programme dealt mostly with children with disabilities, but he said it was subsequently recognized that there was a need for more integration with other persons with disabilities.
The DPN is located in the compound of the community centre and its purpose is to help train persons with disabilities. Currently, he said, training is being done in crochet work, baskets and he even revealed that for the country’s 50th anniversary celebrations in May a number of baskets bearing the 50th logo were made and sold by the members in the network.
Last year too, he said, some 200 bed sheets were made and sold to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.
The DPN has roughly 70 members and is one where persons can have their self-esteem lifted he said, since they would be around other visually impaired persons or others with similar disabilities and this can help to motivate them.
He was quick to add however that the organization is not only for those with disabilities. “We recognize that some persons become adults and they have had no access to school, so the organization really tries to help them.
It is not only for those who are disabled in the community but there are also persons who dropped out of school and we are trying to reintegrate them into the programme,” he explained.
Archibald said the organization does a lot of training and is currently looking at offering computer training, joinery and masonry, but the limited space is a huge factor; the DPN is in need of a bigger space.
He stated that they were able to get a piece of land but are finding it difficult to start building given their limited resources. To this end, he is appealing to those desirous of donating materials or otherwise so that they can be able to expand. He also says that given the computer training they would like to do, donors would come forward and assist the organization.
According to Archibald, the organization also does concerts and blind cricket matches. A unity concert is slated to be held in the month of September, he added.
Even though they themselves are in need of help, Archibald said, the organization tries to give back to the community.
Every year, they try to paint at least two pedestrian crossings and to donate trophies and gifts when schools hold their graduation ceremonies.
He lauded the Food for the Poor Organization for the help it has been giving to date, adding that it is also trying to help with the new building.
His advice to others who are disabled whether visually or otherwise is that they shouldn’t “look on the blindness. Look beyond, if you watch for the blindness it will put you in a position that the world is going to end there.”
He said he always keeps himself busy. “I make myself active. Sometimes with a disability you say that because of that life end but that is not so, you can still go about doing things,” he said.
He also stands by the motto that whatever the mind can conceive and believe it can achieve. It has helped him a great deal so far and also added that he is a firm believer that his faith in God has also helped him get this far.
The CBRP he pointed out has helped a lot since “as a blind person I never knew that I would be able to run an organization. I am able to influence so many others.”
Also, while there is the Persons with Disability Act which was assented to by then President Bharrat Jagdeo in 2010, Archibald is still advocating for more buildings with disability access. And while he has often felt discriminated against at times, he has not let that get him down.
He said he is better able to educate persons “since sometimes they might be in my position.”
Meanwhile, those desirous of donating whether materials or money can contact Archibald on telephone numbers 232-3351 or 6788872
