Tampus, Mary Grace G.

AB POSC-LPS 3

August 03, 2013 POSC 138

Give to every human being every right that you claim for yourself. - Robert Ingersoll When we speak of human rights, we often associate it with right to life, to due process, to form unions and organizations, to reproduce and etc. and we often hear violations of such in the society. Instead of victims receiving justice for violations of their rights through due process, we often hear cases of such dismissed or archived because there are no witnesses supporting the victims case or either evidence of victim is weak enough to condemn the violator. Luckily, today, in this age of modernization, some victims are given their share of justice through the initiative of some concerned citizens with the use of media (e.g. Bayan Mo I-Patrol Mo). However, there are victims of abuses who cannot even reach the stage of letting people know they are abused. Such cases involve PWDs (Persons with disability). It is even tagged as the forgotten rights and to which such topic was discussed in the Forum entitled, (KASAMA) Karapatan Sa Malikhaing Paraan: A Human Rights University Road Show last July 30, 2013. The forum was zeroed on the rights of PWDs and to which I was really fascinated. Hearing impaired people in the Philippines are now given the avenue to speak out if they are abused through Gualandi Volunteer Service Program (GVSP). Such programme has the advocacy drive of Breaking the Silence in order to strengthen the fight against sexual abuse and exploitation of hearing impaired people. Most of the victims of such abuses are those hearing impaired people who are not educated. Therefore, the GVSP conducts massive advocacy campaigns through road shows and seeking help with government agencies (e.g. police deaf desk). Internationally, rights of hearing impaired and other PWDS are also recognized. In fact, laws and treaties are made. UN has its Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. It is entrenched in such convention that impairment and barriers leads to restricted participation of PWDs to social and political activities thus equates to disability but if we remove such barriers then full participation can be expected therefore there will be no persons with disabilities. From the lecture, it was stressed that every person is normal its just that people has their barriers keeping them from doing activities they want to do. An example would be barriers in education. For the deaf, it is hard for them to do the activity of hearing and for the blind; visual impairment. Let us help not only in breaking the silence but also in breaking the impairments for PWDs. Let us work hand in hand in creating a better place for everyone to live that despite of all the negativity, every person on earth can live to the fullest.