Dear Editor,
Reading Letitia August’s story, ‘See the ability and not the disability’ in the Sunday, August 14, Kaieteur News, sent shivers down my spine. I remembered right away when I was involved in an accident with my motorcycle and I became differently-abled. At the Suddie Public Hospital it was revealed that I had suffered a back injury, and I was later admitted to the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC). I was in a constant battle after then to acquire treatment and therapy, until I went to India after many frustrations for corrective surgery.
Coming back to Miss Letitia August, she is quite right when she says that if you are disabled, people look at you with scorn as though you are a lesser human being, and no one wants to employ you on the job. I had the same experience after my accident on the job. I was promised by my employer that they would retain me and make a ramp to allow me to go to the office with my wheelchair, but this never materialized. I was the sole breadwinner in my house, and without any means of income, I became impoverished. After the new government assumed office, I was offered a job by the Prime Minister after he looked at my qualifications. The previous government put me out of a job because of my disability. I used to manage the whole seed paddy operation at Anna Regina for the RPA before my accident, working from 7am to 12 midnight to work the dryer and cleaner to clean the seed paddy, and see that the workmen stored it in the bond. Then I would go home.
There is nothing that an able person can do and a disabled person cannot do.
Yours faithfully,
Mohamed Khan
