The corporate sector has a special role that actually should be seen as more than a responsibility because it is a duty. If we create a coalition of business enterprises keen to understand how diversity can be enriching for their organisations, a lot could be achieved
Last Saturday, I met Sarita Thulung, the para-athlete and disability and social inclusion activist. She recently formed a new women wheelchair basketball team, the WIN Team, as she is trying hard to push to get her own organisation, the Culture Society of People with Disabilities, that focuses on adaptive sports, culture and arts, to take off.
If you want to set up an NGO these days, it is not really easy. Compliance regulations are, though very important, quite tight and heavy. Funding for the not-for-profit sector is drying up, and it is more and more difficult to find the resources, even if you have great ideas like the ones that Sarita has.
Her plan is to create effective communication and awareness about the rights of persons with disabilities, with a particular focus on women living with disabilities. Sports, arts, cultures can be effective mediums to break down the barriers affecting and impacting these citizens who, constitutionally speaking, have no less rights than others. The question is simple but at the same time very complex.
It is simple because there should not be any complacency that allows the society to discriminate against anyone. In all truth, this is a broader issue that also revolves around the inalienable rights of other groups, like Dalits, who have historically been at the receiving end of an unjust system.
At the same time, we know that the whole picture is much more complicated and is compounded by multiple factors. Discriminatory attitudes and behaviours are hard to fight back. Legislation, even if in place and implemented genuinely according to fullness of their spirit, alone cannot solve the intricacies that leave behind so many citizens.
It is really a systemic issue that is also connected with a patriarchal society, a broken education system (unless you have the money) and a still too small and unequal job market.
Look at some of the stories Sarita shared with me. Most of her new team members are unable to find jobs. The issue, in reality, is even far more complex. It's not only about a job market that is unable to provide good work opportunities to the youths of the nation. It is also about the fact that, if you come from a situation of vulnerability, then, the you have very high odds that the whole system is stacked against you.
For example, while there are examples of persons with disabilities who excelled at school and found good jobs, the vast majority have been struggling even if they push themselves throughout the whole educational cycle. They have the potential, the grit to do well in life but are blocked, stopped from leveraging their determination and capabilities. Others, instead, do lack the skills that the job market requires.
In certain situations, there are unsupportive families who not only discourage their daughters and sons with disabilities, but they even discriminate against them.
In a very real scenario, in the WIN team set up by Sarita, there is a member whose family is not doing the right thing, blocking her from entering the job market, for which, unfortunately, she is not particularly skilled for. This because she never had the right opportunities to prove her worth, her potential.
I wish authorities, at the local and central levels, could step in with counselling and the proper support system that such a situation warrants. This is for me what inclusive and responsive governance should mean, the capacity of the state to intervene when complex situations arise especially when those who are vulnerable are suffering.
Sarita wants to unleash a spiral of activities to promote the right to good and quality education for persons living with disabilities by harnessing their creativity and prowess. She also plans to reach out to thousands of students with a massive awareness campaign, while, at the same time, she would like to make the job market much fairer and inclusive. These are gigantic undertakings, and Sarita knows that she will need partnerships, collaborations within the disability movement itself.
She believes that differences, divisions and ego issues should be set apart because there is one overarching goal that must be achieved: make Nepal an inclusive nation for all. This should not only be seen as the mission of a disability activist like Sarita but should also be seen as the mission of every citizen.
I wrote multiple times in this column that inclusion should be pursued by everyone. The corporate sector has a special role that actually should be seen as more than a responsibility because it is a duty. If we create a coalition of business enterprises really eager to learn about inclusive practices, keen to understand how diversity can be an enriching element for their organisations, then a lot could be accomplished.
Let's start with effective scholarships, then we could move with meaningful and well-paid internships and in-job experiences that would introduce vulnerable youths to the job market. In the end, there might even be the need of the legislator to step in the game with some measures, but to start with, we need to have a conversation, a dialogue.
Leaders like Sarita and many others like her should be given a chance to be heard so that they can mark a change and make a difference. I get that there are a lot of other priorities. I understand that the economy is not in its best shape, and the nation is facing a widening gap in raising revenue.
These are all very real and very serious issues that must be tackled head on. Yet we should not forget those who are forgotten, and we should not hide behind excuses, this writer included. Even small steps, to start with, can propel bigger actions and an inspiration to do more and faster.
Let's give Sarita and her team members a chance to sparkle and contribute to the development of this great nation.
The author of the co-founder of ENGAGE and The Good Leadership
