英語

Touching Life: Touching whose life?

By Chang Chih-yu(張芷瑜) 

Eden Social Welfare Foundation(伊甸基金會)held “ Touching Life”(無障礙生活空間)from Sept. 23-25 at the Songshan Cultural Park, the third year the foundation sponsored the exhibition for people to get to know the life of disabled people.First, people can sit in the wheelchair with a simulated  scene on the slides, to see and to feel the way of disabled people walking on the street. Second, there are some pictures displayed on the wall to show the disabled can do their jobs as well as normal people. After all, people may experience going over the slope via obstacles and try to pick things up with wheelchairs.

A person is experiencing a devious path with wheelchair (photo/Chang, Chih-Yu)
A person is experiencing a devious path with wheelchair. Photo / Chang Chih-yu 張芷瑜

“All of us need an accessible environment. Think about it, a mom with a stroller or a person who accidentally hurts his/her feet — they will be stuck in the U-shaped railings before entering the park. How difficult will it be for them to get on the bus without any help?” said  Wang Wan-Mei(王婉眉), the PR of Eden Social Welfare Foundation. Wang’s remarks raised people’s awareness that the disabled are facing this kind of problems all the time in their lives. Furthermore, disabled people also have the fundamental rights of a citizen, they should enjoy the same privilege of moving freely in the same places like normal people. Maybe sometimes when the environment is unfriendly to them, you can be the one to change it. For example, if you see there is a barricade in front of a disabled person, stop and remove it, which will make someone’s way home easier.