Disable i Lund在北歐坐輪椅
Introduction
What I have been noticing in Lund is that disable people are visible in the public areas…I believe there are as many disable people in Taiwan as there are in Sweden. Not only they are trusted in dealing with their daily routine but they are also accepted by the society.
Legally speaking
Swedish government make it official that every new building has to be built as wheelchair accessible. In Taiwan, those kinds of facility are not yet common enough to make the disable feeling convenient wherever they go. There are foundations (ex. Eden Social Welfare Foundation) which are having annual conference on this topic…they are pushing the boundary even further by discussing the possibility for the disable to go travelling within or outside the country…whether it’s indoors sightseeing or outdoor excursion.
One of thing that worth mentioning is that I think Lund did a great job in enable the disable people…especially for those in wheelchair. When I comes to blind people…one thing you can find it’s the traffic lights, which make distinguishing sounds for the blind people to know the time of crossing. But another intriguing thing is not many signs are shown with Braille on the side. And they are no special pedestrian road designing for them to know if they are still walking on the sidewalk or already on the road itself. In Taiwan and as far as I know in Japan , special sidewalk are designed for the blind to feel the road easier with their sticks.
Socially speaking
Disable people in Sweden are both visible and invisible. Visible as you can see them around in your daily life…on your way to school, in the supermarket or even next to you in the gym. But they are also invisible as people don’t seem to see the differences on them. Swedes seems to be perfectly comfortable with disable all around them and still engaging their daily activities like no difference. In many cultures I believe, it could be human’s nature to stare at those who look different from us physically or who act and move differently.
Swedes seems to be comfortable with their own bodies…regardless it’s perfectly healthy or partly deficient. Disable people are seen shown up in the swimming pool, which in my culture unfortunately, will very often be seemed as an awkward behaviour…not only to the disable, but also to others at the swimming pool…to put it in a stronger word, it is embarrassing to show your body when you are disable.
Disable people in Sweden are independent and enable to live a full life…from living with their own family to get a job in the supermarket. The public facilities as well as the society are welcoming. It is hard to imagine how many difficulties a disable person in Taiwan will encounter during his or her day…already it is hard for them to move around flexibly, not to mention being treated equally by the so-called normal people. Not that we are unfriendly to the disable, but disable people are still being seen as something that doesn’t equal to normal people and it is a kindness instead of a habit to help them. There are some certain law about big cooperation in Taiwan where people must hire certain amount of disable people in the company…but it’s not yet common and hence a lot of disable people still get their job through various organizations and work together as a group in their own shops.
Conclusion
I believe disable people want to be enabled to do the thing that others can do. They certainly don’t want to be look down at…as well as being treated as someone who needs special help…or simply someone different to others. Personally I think Sweden do a very well job in enabling the disable. I can see Sweden is trying its best to make them feeling equal…to narrow the gap between the disable and others by lower the difficulties they will encounter everyday.
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