Blind worker’s lament: They think our vote is worthless

ALLAN Mesoga at work: They, too, are productive members of society. JHESSETO. ENANO

(Fourth of a series)

At his work desk, Allan Mesoga listens intently to the robotic female voice coming from his computer speakers. “Start. Programs. Microsoft Office Word,” said his screen reader, leading him to the program to get his reports done.

Mesoga, 35, is a copyreader at the Bureau of Learning Resources at the central office of the Department of Education (DepEd) in Pasig City. His task, though, is far from the ordinary: he is a blind person, and his work is to make sure that Braille books provided for public schools nationwide are correct and accurate.

His job gives him hope that students with visual disability are given access to education and are able to contribute to a greater Philippines.

But at present, the challenges that Mesoga face are reminders that more work needs to be done.

As of this interview, the Taguig resident is still unsure of who to vote for, especially as politicians are silent on issues involving persons with disabilities (PWDs).

PWD inclusion

“How can any of them say they have programs and projects for PWDs?” he said. “They don’t really target the PWD sector because it’s a minority. I suppose they think our vote has no weight, but they have to include us, too, because they are public servants.”

The 2010 census by the National Statistics Authority recorded 1.443 million PWDs, or 1.57 percent of the total population. This election, data from the Commission on Elections (Comelec) showed that registered PWD voters are less than 1 percent of the 54 million Filipinos registered to cast their ballots tomorrow.

Beyond election season, inclusiveness in the society is a primary concern of PWDs, whether they have disabilities with their sight, hearing, mobility or intellectual capacity.

Born in Pampanga province, Mesoga had retinopathy of prematurity, a disease in premature babies that causes abnormal blood vessels in the retina to grow, which can lead to blindness.

“As a child, I was seeing clouds in my vision, then the images became distorted,” he said. “Now, my sight is totally gone.”

He was already 13 years old when he started Grade 1. “My parents did not know where to send me to until a teacher we knew told us to go to Resources for the Blind,” he said, referring to the nonprofit group that caters to people with visual impairment.

He attended the Philippine National School for the Blind in Pasay. After Grade 5, he passed a placement test and was accelerated to second year high school, finishing at 20 years old.

Mesoga studied Secondary Education, majoring in mathematics, at the Philippine Normal University. He later obtained a master’s degree in teaching students with visual impairment in the same university.

Accessibility

Accessibility remains to be one of the main issues of PWDs, in terms of mobility, education, telecommunication and employment, among other things. Republic Act No. 7277, or the Magna Carta for Persons with Disabilities, safeguards them these rights, but without implementing laws, discrimination and barriers are still everywhere.

For instance, transportation to and from work is one of the biggest hurdles of Mesoga. Every workday, his wife accompanies him early in the morning to a tricycle terminal heading to Lower Bicutan. He then takes a jeep to Pasig, then an FX heading to SM Megamall and gets off in front of the DepEd office.

On his way home, it takes two jeepneys and one MRT ride to take him back to his wife and four children. Each trip takes about two hours on a good day.

His wife Silvia worries for him. She used to accompany him every day to work, but as their family grew bigger, he decided she should stay with the kids.

Discrimination

Understanding the varying needs of different disabilities is a step to opening the society for inclusion. Mesoga is fortunate to be employed at an office where he is not the only blind employee, but other PWDs still experience discrimination in employment. Some are not accepted because of their disability or the office environment is not made accessible to them.

Mesoga said accepting a PWD for employment because of mercy is still discrimination. “Instead of assets, they think of us as liability,” he said. “They should accept us because we qualify as employees and not just because they feel they need to help us,” he said.

The attitudes of the people also become barriers, Mesoga said, because they are usually unaware of the conditions of PWDs.

“Most people think PWDs are just beggars,” he said. “One time, I got off the wrong stop. When I asked around for directions, they told me, ‘sorry, no change.’”

With this concern, Mesoga said there should be more awareness programs to highlight the diversity and different capabilities of PWDs in the country. For this coming elections, he still does not see any candidate who has specific agenda for their sector.

“It would make a difference to have someone from our sector represent us in the government,” he said.

But if opportunities for an ordinary voter like him can already be a challenge, what more for PWDs aiming to run for national posts?

Accommodation

Mesoga said he was worried about the accessibility on casting his vote on Election Day. Republic Act No. 10366, passed in 2013, mandated that in designing the ballot, the Comelec should ensure that reasonable accommodation is extended, so that PWDs and senior citizens are enabled to accomplish the ballots by themselves.

Still, the ballots have no accessibility features, Mesoga said. “The problem with the Comelec is their idea of accessibility for PWDs is still for those with orthopaedic disabilities,” he said, referring to accessible polling places on the ground floor.

Before the vote-counting machines, Mesoga said a friend would accompany him to his precinct to write down his votes. This was risky, he said, because he was never sure what his friend had written.

He suggested a way around the barrier. “We can just use a type of envelope with the names of candidates in Braille and with holes for the shading areas. The ballot can be inserted there and we can accomplish it ourselves,” he said, adding that the Comelec would have to produce just one per precinct with a registered PWD.

“But the problem with the Comelec is that they don’t really work with people from the sector,” he said.

Mesoga said he hoped this election would offer changes for the PWD sector and society’s outlook toward it.

“As a PWD, this is my chance to express my choice on who will lead our country,” he said. “But we still have a long way to go in making our country inclusive to all.” TVJ

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