Showing posts with label disabled. Show all posts
Showing posts with label disabled. Show all posts

Wednesday, May 9, 2012

Let's Get Together - the ability of disability


Park areas and other green zones in the city are usually associated with children and their moms (children play, moms watch) , senior citizens who stop  by to sit on a bench  for some rest, young couples hugging under a tree, joggers and bike riders that practice their favorite sports..

There's also this category of  elderly people bound to wheel-chairs, and their caregivers ; they come here to breath some fresh air, escape loneliness, and interact with other people in the same situation. The green spot is ideal,  as it both relaxes and revitalizes, provides a pleasant setting for chatting and  fun.  One meets these people, especially in the late afternoon or early evening hours.


Most of the caregivers are foreigners, epecially filipinos (the latter are considered more tendered hearted than the israelis - which may be true ,but equally true is that welfare makes  local people lazy ,spoilt, and selective about work -  hence the need to import workers to help with the disabled people).

Though not physically disabled, these  foreign helpers are also in some way 'disabled' , for they are far away from their families, facing language barrier, hard work. and sometimes sexual harassment. They look forward to meet their compatriots in order to share  experiences and information in their native language. Sometimes, they get deep in their small talk, forget about the person in the wheel-chair, and suddenly one hears someone shouting something like :"Look, his head has dropped down...".


(The above photos were taken in the early evening hours ,from distance, as  I didn't want to embarass  or irritate anyone of my intended  'camera objects'.).