ARTICLE - SOCIAL STIGMA OF DISABILITY

SOCIAL STIGMA OF DISABILITY PLAGUES QUAKE VICTIMS
(The Spectrum.com) - By Samantha Clemens

LES CAYES, Haiti -- For Alexis Odner, dealing with the psychological impact of becoming a person with a disability is just as difficult as learning to move without a limb.

The 25-year-old Haitian lost his leg during the Jan. 12 earthquake, but the social stigma sometimes associated among Haitians about the disabled is making the physical adaptation more difficult to handle.

“Some Haitians think when you’re disabled it means you’re not worth very much anymore,” Odner said through a translator. “It’s a ‘go put yourself in a corner’ attitude.”

Lying facedown on a clinic bed, Odner does hip extension exercises across from Pierre Lutent, who is being examined by a medical volunteer.

Lutent has been paralyzed for four years after he fell from a tree while picking fruit and broke his back. His family relocated to Les Cayes to be close to the hospital, he said through a translator.

Although he lives nearby, volunteers need to assist in bringing him into the clinic every day. A rocky path up a hill and an inadequate wheelchair for transportation make it necessary to have help. While passing people along their way he receives stares from children and locals selling goods on the street.

“This is not how I was born, but I just have to deal with it,” Lutent said.

Since the earthquake ravaged the country an estimated 2,000 to 4,000 people became amputees, forcing many into a state they may have judged beforehand.

“For many it’s considered shameful,” June Hanks, director of Advantage Haiti said.

“The community refuses to identify with the person.“

Hanks, whose humanitarian organization provides physical rehabilitation to Haitians, said those with disabilities need to realize they are no different, despite the social stigma that exists.

“They are still the same person, just without a leg,” Hanks said.

But that concept has difficulty resonating with some who have been injured.

“I feel like I lost very much from my life,” Odner said.

Before the earthquake Odner earned money by doing construction work, something that is no longer an option for him. In a country with unpaved roads and concrete bricks under housing to prevent flooding, environmental barriers perpetuate challenges for people with disabilities.

Learning various trades, however, is one way some have managed to continue to fend for themselves.

Lisette Cadet, 30, has been unable to walk since she was 13.

“I felt like I died because I was so sick and discouraged,” Cadet said through a translator.

After attending the Bernice Johnson Professional Center, a vocational training program for women with disabilities in Haiti, Cadet was able to learn needlework that now serves as her source of income, making purses, hats and other items for tourists.

Cadet thinks the newly disabled should not become discouraged; knowing that there is negative perception among locals should not sway others to feel like they are unable to accomplish tasks.

“I can do all the work that a person with legs can do,” Cadet said. “I just can’t walk.”