Bohol blind musicians impress PWD lobbyist
Tagbilaran City (31 March 2010) -- Impressive.
The adulation, coming from a person with disability (PWD) himself proves brimming amazement at how PWDs in Bohol have achieved normal lives and have gone mainstream.
According to Breaking Barriers for Children and Youth (BBCY) National Project Coordinator Pepito Maño, his amazement started when he saw the band of vision impaired men and women entertaining outgoing passengers at sea and air terminals here.
BBCY is a project of the Provincial Government and the Kapisanan ng mga May Kapansanan and the Danish Society of Polio and Accident Victims funded by DANIDA.
The project puts up an insititute called the Stimulation Therapeutic and Activity Center (STAC) where free therapies are dispensed for the poor children with disabilities (CWD) aged 0-14, says Ms Haidee Cubarol, Bohol STAC manager.
The center offers comprehensive physical and occupational theraphy and rehabilitation for CWDs, pres school education for special children, social skills enhancement, and oragnization of support groups, she added.
The center and its manpower support would held a child with disability to overcome his problem and make him a productive member of the coomunity, Cubarol shared.
On the other hand, Maño said with the help of the STAC, CWDs can be made to overcome their disabilities, with the institutionalization of the regular health and social service program of Bohol by virtue of an ordinance appropriating funds for the center.
Maño, a staunch advocate for the mainstreaming of PWDS and works in national PWD circuits and lobby groups came to Bohol to grace the turn-over ceremonies of the new Stimulation Therapeutic and Activity Center # 16 (STAC) at the Bohol Motor Pool complex last week.
Himself strapped to a customized wheelchair due to a physical handicap, Maño said mainstreaming PWDs in Bohol which places them as co-equals with the rest shows realisation of what the national government has been dreaming: proving that PWDs are not social budens.
In a country where many PWDs surrender to their fate and turn into beggars, Maño said PWDs are not mendicants, they can still live normal lives, while stressing on the community support needed to empower PWDS like what he got. (PIA-Bohol)
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Topic: Blind Musicians in Bohol, Philippines (Read 842 times)