Mexico and the Disabled

The Economist-July 18-24, 2009 Issue (p36)

“Lending A Hand”

The lead-in to this story about help for the disabled in Mexico is about the hiring of people with disabilities at the Mexico City Airport. This small story also reported ". . . Mexico, now at the vanguard of the disabled rights movement in the developing world . . . began a number of initiatives, including installing wheel-chair ramps in 26,000 schools, and providing subsidized loans for housing for the disabled."

As a believer in Mexico, I am glad to read positive stories about that nation’s government. However, here are the facts I see in the colonias of northern Mexico. Please keep in mind that most schools, government services, and living conditions along the border exceed those in most parts of Mexico.

When attending a graduation ceremony for schools that serve disabled children in Acuna, Mexico, parents flock to me and ask if I can provide a wheel-chair for their child. It seemed that half of the children that were unable to stand did not have a wheel-chair of their own. Many mothers carried their children up the aisle to receive their diplomas. We also encounter children with disabilities as we walk the dirt streets of the colonias.

Sergio was five years old when we met. It was at the end of a day spent delivering food door-to-door. We discovered that a few sacks of food remained and we simply stopped the truck and picked a house at random.

The lady at that house thanked us for the groceries and invited us into her little house. We met her husband and noticed the little boy on the bed. His little legs looked extraordinarily thin and we learned that he could not walk.

His mother explained, “He was born this way. The doctors just told us that this is the way he is and there is nothing to be done.”

I asked if he attended school and learned that he attended a nearby kinder. His mother carried him to the school bus every morning. Each day, she boarded the bus, carried him into the classroom, placed him at his desk and then walked home. At the end of each school-day, she walked the mile to his school, picked him up from his desk, boarded the school-bus and returned home. The family cannot afford a wheel-chair.

There are thousands of ‘Sergios’ without wheel-chairs. But here is the really sad part of the story: I suspect that many of these children are exactly like Sergio. Not only do they not have a wheel-chair, there is corrective surgery that can enable these children to walk!

Paper Houses Across the Border (http:/paperhouses.org) paid for Sergio to be examined at a private clinic. He underwent surgery and was dancing at the Kinder graduation.

I am glad and proud that Mexico is building ramps at schools for the many children in wheel-chairs. However, the world needs to understand the reality of children living in need of a wheel chair and that thousands only need a wheel-chair because their parents cannot afford surgery that will change the life of the child, the child’s family and the lives of untold generations. These operations generally cost less than $10,000. To enable Sergio to walk, we spend $6,500. That seems a small price to pay.

I am not advocating a change in Mexico’s policies, health-care, or suggesting there is anything wrong. I answer to a higher authority than Mexico or the United States. I was instructed to feed the poor, give drink to the thirsty, and to clothe the naked. I was told that whatever I do for the least of these I do for Him. I was also told whatever I do not do for the least of these I do not do for Him. So, it is my responsibility.

We try not to live in ‘the land of Should’ and duck responsibilities by figuring out who ‘should’ do these things. We see children like Sergio as opportunities to answer a prayer and work a miracle.

If you think that little Sergio was happy when he stood in front of his classmates for the first time, you should have seen my face!