The UP Psychology Society recently hosted “Limitless: Stronger Together,” a PWD-friendly fun run at the College of Science Oval of the University of the Philippines (UP) in Diliman, Quezon City.

The run was organized with Kaisahan ng Magulang at Anak na May Kapansanan (Kaisaka), a community-based rehabilitation program of PWDs and their families, and Muscular Dystrophy Association of the Philippines. The event aimed to create awareness on the importance of physical and mental health for all kinds of people, and to show that a disability doesn’t make one less of a person.

Republic Act No. 7277 (An Act Providing for the Rehabilitation, Self-Development, and Self-Reliance of Disabled Persons and their Integration) defines a PWD (Person with Disability) as “those suffering from restriction of different abilities, as a result of a mental, physical or sensory impairment, to perform an activity in the manner or within the range considered normal for a human being.”

There is nothing in that definition that says that they are lesser people.

When the stigma attached to PWDs blocks the door of inclusivity, empowerment is key. Initiatives like the fun run give PWDs a venue to prove the stigma wrong and go beyond what society expects of them. —CONTRIBUTED