Societal Opinions On Disabled Peoples' Vocations: Logically Right Or Wrong?

Credit

To all my steemian friends and allies in pursuit of success, I welcome you to my blog and I appreciate your visits in no small measure. 

You know, in life...certain experiences are capable of triggering off a chain effect in such a way that things that ordinary don't worth attention begin to receive immense attention. This can be said of my sad experience in the hands of my fellow compatriots the last time which necessitated my last post where I narrated that unfortunate incident over which I shed tears. One can easily claim to have moved on and put on some facial facades suggestive of so. But one cannot deceive the spiritual reality of certain experiences because mind, being a fundamental ingredient of the spirit, can hardly be conditioned to only entertain certain thoughts, more especially when it is badly wounded.

This is the state I found myself today. And for this reason, I will dedicate a number of my works to generally reviewing the highly neglected 'world' of people living with disabilities in a hostile society. If the popular adage that youths of today are the leaders of tomorrow is anything to go by, and knowing for a fact that Nigeria has a sizeable number of her youth in this program, they are my primary target. For nobody knows who will be king tomorrow. Former President Goodluck Jonathan once had no shoes, according to him, but later rose to occupy the highest office in the land. 

So I believe if there should be attitudinal change towards the people living with disabilities in Nigeria, then it has to start with the steemian Nigerians. You see... It is easy to condemn others without knowing that even you might subconsciously possess such characters for which you had condemned others. This is the bitter reality of life. Should you wake up tomorrow and find yourself in Nigeria's seat of power as the President or a lawmaker, what will be your position on some unbefitting vocations some disabled persons have taken up out of expediency sake in order to keep body and soul together? This question brings us to the theme of this article.

Going down the memory lane...in 2011 soon after I had returned to Nigeria from India where I had gone to replace my badly fractured hip, I looked for jobs for months without success. In the face of, pressing personal needs and responsibilities, I had to find something doing no matter how unbefitting or dangerous to my health. Despite being on two crutches, I joined a cross-border business involving importing bags of rice from Benin Republic to supply Lagos rice merchants. While in this business, on several occasions I was nearly caught in another tragedy; lots of missed auto accidents. The last narrow escape that instigated my quitting the business was the day I was nearly hit by a live bullet from a gun duel between men of the custom and criminal smugglers.

While I was in this importation business, people that I came across were always full of praises for me for daring to engage in such a business even on two crutches. And even today, they still rain praises on me, seeing me rendering my services of laundry. However, I am always rather appalled by these public views, making me to begin to entertain some thoughts: do this people know that I do these things at great discomfort and risk to my health? Is this a befitting vocation for someone holding a second class upper degree result grade with a CGPA of 4.48 on 5 scale? Do they realize I used to be in a lot of pains engaging in these works? And brings us to the question; are these views morally right or wrong?

I am not the only one that people hold these views for. A nairaland.com user with username 'dainformant' writes of a man on wheelchair who survives by selling assorted biscuits...

...instead of whiling away his time...not bothered by his condition, this man has reportedly hustled on his own by selling assorted biscuits on a wheelchair for more than 10 years now. Source

Engr Muhammad Malasheriff,  who shared a photo of his physically challenged labourer, has this to say....

...this man you see is a labourer currently working on my site in Kaduna. Despite having one leg he choose to work hard rather than begging. Source. 

Credit

And I ask again; are these views on the part of the able-bodied majority morally right or wrong?

Now, before I attempt to offer my personal views on this discourse, I would like to know your candid opinion on this. And I pray that as you oblige me with your position, you will never live to taste the bitter 'world' of this hugely maligned minority.

And I trust that you being someone who milk of human kindness flows through, you will REDFERN this piece. Thanks for reading.

Till next time.

I remain yours Naija Boi,

@eurogee