Still, there is a wrong mindset among our society of considering people living with disability incapable of doing anything. This may not come down as a surprise among a traditional society that associates disability with a curse called down from the sky. But, this is not always true. For some mothers like Hanna Tasew, her disabled daughter is strong and capable of doing anything.
Though she is part of society, she has not fallen prey to such outmoded traditional thoughts. Whenever she got time, Hanna used to read to her handicapped daughter, Sabella Kedir about success stories of people living with disabilities across the globe. Often, she read to her cherished daughter inspiring stories from diffrent books. Sabella Kedir, was born in Asmara. But, when she became two years old her mother brought her to Addis Ababa for medical purpose. Sabella Kedir was born with disability. But that could not hamper her from achieving her dream. Fighting tooth and nail with her fate, she has made a model, script writer and director out of herself.
And now, stunned by her courage and optimism towards life the Pakistan government has given her an honorable Ambassadorship position to inspire people living with disability in one of the NGO centers in Pakistan. For Sabella, disability is not inability. She also has a strong belief that disability is in the mind of an individual. If people keep on reminding themselves about difficulties, their life will be full of challenges.
However, if they adjust their mental setting they can tackle tasks that seem a hard nut to crack. She says “In this regard, my mother is an inspiration to the current me. She never sees a disabled Sabella. She always assures me that if you challenge your limit, you are capable of circumvent anything.” Though the situations and the social thinking towards disabled individuals is hard to handle, my mother and my family have played a significant role.
According to Sabella, there are millions of people who complain about life, while their faculties are intact and while they are in full gear. On the other hand, there are disabled individuals who have dramatically changed their fate by performing what seems difficult to achieve. In addition to her mother and families, books and magazines are closest friends and sources of inspiration to Sabella. They have fed her mind with positive thoughts. Being a model or a movie director is a very hard task to a person like me having a hand tied behind one’s back, says Sabela. “Let alone to a person living with disability, it is even difficult to a normal person.
However, thanks to my mother and the books I read I am morally resilient to be who I want to be.” Sabella does not simply blame the society. People with disability too have weaknesses. They have a low selfesteem for themselves. They are seen taking for granted the traditional thoughts, which people have accepted as a truth. Often,they feel that no one will accept them. “We cannot change our physical appearance. We have to accept that. What we can change is our thought towards external situations. We have to take the bull by the horn. We should not expect everything from the society. At the same time, the society should not always think that we are incapable of doing anything.” Mastewal, is Sabella`s movie that will be on show very soon.
The movie’s script is written with the theme of upturning the mentality of the society towards disabled individuals. In her movie, Sabllea has tried to tell people to be cautious with the words they use. According to her, words hurled by the irresponsible have a paralyzing effect on individuals living with disability as well as their families. In this respect, whenever we use words we have to be careful. Words have a debilitating effect on any individual. This is especially true when it comes to those born a bit less fortunate.
During his stay with Sabella , this writer did pose the question why most Ethiopian movies do not take on board people living with disability. Sabella attributes fear for their backpedaling from performing on movies, which is supposed to be the reflection of life. Most individuals living with disability fail to accept and adjust. Such things prevent them from accepting the real world. The other reason is that directors or producers would not give them a chance to perform. Pertaining to this, the gap has to be narrowed down. Those disabled individuals have to accept the reality and join the real world with the gift life has provided them. At the same time, producers and directors have to open their doors to talented actors living with disability
Herald January 27/2019
BY LEULSEGED WORKU
