Challenges Faced by People with Paralysis

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 Challenges Faced by People with Paralysis

The world has been facing issues in different types and situations, from health,

education, and even financial crises. For individuals with normal physical, mental, and

spiritual health, all of the said issues are typical for society to encounter. However,

individuals are born differently. Some people have disabilities, and for them, life is more

challenging. One of the most common issues being faced by people with disabilities (PWDs)

is their chance of getting employed. This paper will discuss the factors surrounding the issue,

why it is still relevant today, and why it is important, focusing on paralysis.

Paralysis

While some PWDs are only one loss, loss of vision, sight, taste, or any other senses,

some people have paralysis. Paralysis is "the loss of muscle function in part of your body"

(Medicine Plus Gov. n.d.). Typically, these people cannot feel nor move some portions of

their body, and it is caused by the delay of signals passing from the brain to the muscles. It

can be complete or partial; complete paralysis is the inability to move the whole body; and;

partial is the failure to move the bottom part of the body.

Unemployment

For some jobs, being physically capable is a must. Even people without any disability

find it hard to be employed in a job even though they are healthy and can work. According to

the World Health Organization (n.d.), around 15% of the world, which counts as over a

billion people, have disabilities. According to the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation

(2013), there is one in 50 people with paralysis, estimated to reach 5.4 million. In addition to

what WHO has stated, people with disabilities have less privilege of education and work

opportunities, including paralysis.

 People with paralysis are incapable of working. Some of them, as stated by WHO, are

not even functioning at all. One of the reasons employers do not hire them is that they cannot

do anything and are not productive. Some of them may be able to do the simplest things but

still needs much assistance, which can be costly.

Moreover, “employment has psychologic, social, financial, and political implications”

(Meade, et al, 2004) that are obviously, not being met by paralyzed individuals. Life

satisfaction and quality of life have something to be associated with their incapabilities.

People with paralysis are actually cannot attain “life satisfaction” because they are also not

well in health. According also to their studies, people who are productive are those who have

fewer medical treatments. But then, palayzed individuals seek more medical attentions and

even personal assistance from other people. Also, they are not physically capable of working

and their counterpart (people without any disabilities) have more access and higher quality of

services. In addition to this, paralyzed people are far more to immobility (,). Most of them

have lost some muscle mass, progressive skin iflammations, infections and even more serious

effects such as cardiovascular and respiratory problems. Because they have lost their

sensations on their lower body, they are inable to control their bladder, bowel, temperature

and sexual function. Because of these, they can cause immediate problems and consimissions

inside the workplace.

Meanwhile, according to the study done by Ramachandra et al. (2017), the majority of

the employers have thought that communication, probably miscommunication due to

impairments, behavior towards people, discrimination and bullying, harassment, and lack of

information towards PWDs are barriers. Because people with paralysis are not capable of

doing any large movements, they cannot communicate well (not unless they can talk, some

also find it hard to sleep because of the jaw's immobility) and cannot express themselves
well. This can lead to the manpower declining because if they ever hire people with paralysis,

they need to deal with the customers and works, and also, they need to pay attention to them.

Why Is This Still Relevant Up To Today?

Society has already "solved" the problems regarding the issues being faced by almost

all "types of people." Problems in racism, discrimination towards the social classes,

harassment of the LGBTQA+ community, and the problems of PWDs seem to be old issues

that have been backed up by legalities being set by the government. In fact, there has been

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, a law enforcing the unlawful discrimination against

employees and job applicants according to their race, color, religion, sex, national origin,

disability, or age (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, n.d). The law prevents

employers from disregarding or acting violently against people with diverse cultures, races,

gender preferences, and those who have disabilities.

Even with the law in 1964, there are still discriminations happening today. According

to Bonaccio et al. (2019), with their study being conducted in the year 2019, it is still proven

that even though there has been a law prohibiting this issue, this is still relevant. Some

employers do exhibit sincerity, but then, they do not believe in the power and skills of

paralyzed people. He has also cited that even today, there is a low chance of them being

hired, and it is because managers think that they are not qualified enough to be hired in

certain work areas. As for people with paralysis, they are seen as burdens, not being capable

of accomplishing any tasks.

Importance of the Issue

As people may always say, those who are unemployed will likely be in the lower class

of society. This is true. People without a job or source of income cannot succeed in life
because they are being considered "underprivileged" by being jobless. While being a person

with paralysis is not actually what makes them unable to work; they are being incapable of

having wealth because they are being disregarded in having jobs. Furthermore, because they

are not appreciated in this issue, they are not able to afford anything.

With their inability to be hired, they are being added to the counts of unemployed

people. Moreover, underemployment rates can affect the economy of the country.

Unemployment rates stopped the "supposed" people who can afford to buy goods from the

marketplace. Lastly, because of this, the exchanges in the market is reduced.

Individually and as a country, the unemployment of the PWDs are affecting everyone.

Even the government funds are negatively impacted because of the taxes that are supposed to

be paid by these unemployed individuals. Not only will individuals stay in the poverty line,

but also, society as a whole is being dragged by people who are unable to be productive.

Nonetheless, the said issue shall not be ignored. Thus, Title VII of the Civil rights Act of

1964 should be reviewed again and be strictly implemented. If people want a better society,

the concerns of all members should be addressed.

 References

Bonaccio, S., et al. The Participation of People with Disabilities in the Workplace Across the

EMployment Cycle: EMployer Concerns and Research Evidence. J. Bus Psychol 35,

135-158 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10869-018-9602-5

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. (n.d.). Protections Against Discrimination and

Other Prohibited Practices. Federal Trade Commission. https://www.ftc.gov/site-

information/no-fear-act/protections-against-discrimination

Medicine Plus Gov. (n.d.). Paralysis. Medicnie Plus Government Updates.

https://medlineplus.gov/paralysis.html?

fbclid=IwAR3EvReXLfRstzgHQmw3QSVAilCj3GYmk2eFVJgoLqPprKE3_p_9zC

NE2-0#:~:text=Paralysis%20is%20the%20loss%20of,or%20it%20can%20be

%20widespread

Meade, M. et al. (2004). Race, employment, and spinal cord injury. Archives of

Psychological Medicine and Rehabilitation. 1782.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apmr.2004.05.001

The Big Idea. (nd). Life With Paralysis. The Big Idea website. https://reevebigidea.org/life-

with-paralysis.html

Ramachandra, S., et al. (2017). Factors Influencing Employment and Employability for

Persons with Disability: Insights from a City in South India. Indian journal of

occupational and environmental medicine, 21(1), 36–41.

https://doi.org/10.4103/ijoem.IJOEM_44_16
World Health Organization. (n.d.). Disability. World Health Organization Updates.

https://www.who.int/health-topics/disability#tab=tab_1

Christoper and Dana Reeve Foundation (2013). Prevalence of Paralysis in the United States.

Stats about paralysis. https://www.christopherreeve.org/living-with-paralysis/stats-

about-paralysis