COMMENTARY: When PWDs play patintero

“Kailangan makipagpatintero sa ibang pasahero. Kahit na naka wheelchair ka, wala silang pakialam.  Sa mata nila, pantay-pantay lang lahat, pare-pareho lang gustong umuwi. Ang dami nang nasagasaang paa ng gulong ng wheelchair ko dahil nakikipagsabayan ako sa ibang mga pasahero. Ganun kasi tayong mga Pinoy, imbis na pagbigyan ang kapwa, makikipag-unahan.” 

 

This is a sound byte from one of the PWD respondents interviewed by Talitha Buizon, a graduating student, for her thesis relating Philippine laws to Interior Design at the University of the Philippines. For this, she chose the Accessibility Law and its implementation in the Araneta Center-Cubao Station of the LRT Line 2, notorious for high foot traffic.

Buizon recounts that it all began with a simple class exercise where she went around the campus to check if the law was properly implemented. It inspired her to take the exercise a step further by exploring the topic as her thesis.

 

“Their plight became more of a reality when I started contacting my PWD respondents. They were all so willing to make time for me to interview them, and they all had so much to say, some of which were very painful to hear. To be honest, I imagined their difficulty, but never imagined it to be that hard for them”, Buizon recalls.  

 

A beautifully written law is not enough

 

Batas Pambansa Bilang 344 was passed by former President Ferdinand Marcos in 1983. -- coincidentally, the year I was born.

 

The complete title of the law is: "An Act to Enhance the Mobility of Disabled Persons by Requiring Certain Buildings, Institutions, Establishments and Public Utilities to install Facilities and Other Devices”. It is a law that mandates establishments to ensure access to PWDs.

 

I proposed to write this piece on the Accessibility Law because it's one I feel I am qualified to write. Not because I'm a PWD, but because my mother, author Rosanne Romero has had Multiple Sclerosis for almost 30 years now-- pretty much all my life. 

 

It's been said the Philippines has some of the best laws ever written. Sadly, it is in the implementation we've fallen short. 

 

Earlier this month, I was out with my mom and my 3-year old, on our way to a health store. I was telling her about some of the things she could buy to help her manage her M.S. which they have yet to find a cure for.

Our chipper conversation was abruptly cut short when we were met by the step by the store's door.
Since I had my toddler on my hip, I could not carry her wheelchair, and I shouldn’t have to.

I wrote the health store an open letter on Facebook a few days later. The irony here is that a store where my mom can find products that help her cope with her debilitating disease is not accessible to her. 
 

I know there are a lot of stores that do not abide by this law (and it's a shame, really), but I felt I couldn’t let this particular instance slide; for obvious reasons.  

 

Renowned reporter Jay Taruc did a piece on a day in the life of a PWD for the show i-Witness a few years ago. He got his legs put in a cast and used a wheelchair, making the rounds of government buildings. He also attempted to use public transportation like jeepneys and taxis.

 

“The obvious and recurring problems I encountered were that some ramps were constructed just to comply with the PWD law.  Minsan hindi smooth at may mga kanto”, Taruc recounts. 

 

He said in some places, it was apparent that the ramps were an afterthought. For some wheelchair ramps, like in the LRT and MRT stations, were very steep and it would take a very fit PWD to use it, either to climb it or to go down without getting injured somehow.  Most elevators he encountered weren’t even functional, Taruc laments.

 

“Parang pinilit lang lagyan ng rampa kahit masikip para lang masabi na meron.  In some instances, people would offer for help, but most of the time, they just went about their own business.”

 

This particular law is relevant to Taruc as well, as his 6 year old daughter, Sofie, has Spinal Muscle Atrophy, and needs a wheelchair to get around.

 

“Our particular experience is that in malls, for example,  elevators are located far from the entrance.  It would require considerable effort to look for it. The next problem would be, when you get to the elevator, people are unwilling to give way. Uunahan ka pa sa pagsakay, kahit naka-wheelchair ka. We would have to wait for the next lift."

 

Taking the elevator as a PWD is more challenging than it ought to be. In spite of signs reminding the public to give way to PWDs, pregnant women and senior citizens, eager shoppers couldn’t care less.  Elevator attendants don’t make an effort to remind them, either.  

 

A ray of hope, in the shape of a ramp
 

Back to the open letter to the health store, I went back to the mall within the same week I wrote the letter, to pick up a few things and I was curious to see if some action had been taken. I wasn’t inclined to hope, but was pleasantly surprised by the ramp that was properly installed, one my mom’s wheelchair could mount without any help from us.  

 

Upon asking questions, I discovered they installed the ramp within days of receiving my Facebook letter. There is hope for the Philippines yet!

 

However, if not for a class exercise that inspires a thesis, or having a loved one who is a PWD, if not for stumbling upon a friend’s Facebook post, would any of this come naturally? Probably not.

Hence the need to champion this “ramp crusade” as I fondly call it.  If we won’t talk about it, things will not change.  When we do, though, we literally get to bring our PWD kababayans to places they could not go before; and that, I reckon, is worth the effort. 
 

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Rinka Romero-Sycip is a freelance writer and video producer, wife to a commercial cinematographer, and mom to a three-year old. She is the daughter of Rosanne Romero, author of Amusing Grace.