Fun run shows PWDs’ capabilities

TACLOBAN CITY – Edwin Bausal needs a wheelchair to get around but it doesn’t stop him from joining a one-km fun run in Tacloban City, Leyte province.

“I joined this fun run to show the world that despite my physical disability, I can still do this kind of activity,” said Bausal, 40, a resident of MacArthur town.

Bausal was one of the 10 persons on wheelchairs who joined the “Divine Run” on Sunday as part of the 50th founding anniversary of the Divine Word University Hospital.

At least 1,200 persons joined the fun run, including 400 persons with disability (PWDs).

The fun run was held to promote awareness on the concerns and plight of PWDs. The funds raised during the run will go to the Philippine Academy Rehabilitation Medicine, Tacloban chapter.

There were five categories in the fun run: free PWDs run, three-legged race, backward race, amputee run and autism run.

The three-legged race was for pairs whose two feet were tied together while free run was for those who were on wheelchairs.

The amputee run was for those with crutches while the backward race was for abled individuals who had to run backward to experience how it was not to know where they were going. The autism run was for persons with autism.

Bausal, who had polio when he was an infant, was fourth in the free run category.

He told the Inquirer that he had difficulty finding a job because of his disability even if he was a graduate of a vocational course on General Radio Communications.

“I tried to apply for work but because of my disability, I could not find one,” said Bausal, a barangay (village) councilor of Villa Imelda in MacArthur.

Rep. Ferdinand Martin Romualdez of Leyte’s first district, who supported the fun run, said PWDs should not be treated like second class citizens because they could be productive.

Romualdez is the sponsor of House Bill No. 1039 approved by the House on Dec. 1, 2014.

Under HB 1039, PWDs will have similar benefits enjoyed by senior citizens such as discounts on medicines, dental services, movie tickets and restaurants, among others.

Romualdez said the fun run, the first of such kind in Tacloban, would help break the barrier between physically abled persons and PWDs.