VALERIA SORIA

Pick a changing aspect of the world that you are passionate about. It can be something like climate
change, disability equality, women’s rights, etc. Describe the current path it is on, and how you feel
about it (if you think is headed in the right direction or not).

We live in a very varied, complex and interesting world, where we share the planet with over 7 billion
other people like us, but not all of us live in the same conditions or face the same hardships in life as
others. Sadly, about 15% of the total population of the Earth (around 1 billion people) experience some
form of disability, that makes their everyday commute, interactions or work much more difficult than
the rest of us. Handicapped people, especially in under developing countries, where the laws and
culture are not designed nor inclined to help them, tend to work harder or experience some awful
situations because of that. Nowadays, in these post-COVID time, these group of people are even more
affected, both in health and education aspects, as well as in something so basic as transportation.
Many people with disabilities have underlying medical conditions that makes them more vulnerable to
COVID symptoms, on one hand, and on the other, since hospitals have been overcrowded with patients,
they have been neglected somehow. Furthermore, a lot of students with disabilities have been facing
hardships on their learning curve because they need face to face guidance and the online method
doesn’t necessarily work well with them. Finally, thinking about transport considerations and facilities
that we take for granted, for them, just the act of trying to get on a bus or grab a cab, could be a very
difficult experience and should be helped somehow.

I am particularly very passionate about this topic because I have a couple friends that suffer these
problems. I’ve been researching a lot about alternatives and things that I could do to make them more
at ease and about new technologies that are being developed to solve some of their physical limitations.
I remember one time when this particular friend and a couple other as well as myself, went out to have
dinner in a restaurant and the facilities did not have wheelchair access or space for him to properly sit
with us on the table; so, we actually had to go home that day and my friend was very distraught and sad
because of this. I took the initiative of contacting the restaurant and they assured me that they would
look into this and that told us we should come back a couple weeks later. We did, and they installed a
ramp and rearranged the tables and furniture of the restaurant to allow wheelchair-bound people to
live their experience. I honestly think that lots of other restaurants and other kinds of stores should do
this is a given, so we can all be allowed to have the same kind of experiences.

The world is changing, there is no doubt about it, and most countries right now are making an effort to
enforce new laws regarding employment, health and transportation for people with disabilities, and that
is amazing, but I honestly think that we need to do more, as a society and as individuals. We should try
our best to lend a helping hand for those in need, so that they understand that they are not alone.
Being more emphatic and inclusive is a way to make a difference. It is important to work on educational
programs at schools that teach young children to treat everybody the same, no matter physical looks or
disabilities. Schools should include some sort of guidance subject that would help people understand
these issues and to encourage them to do better for others; this is something that workplaces could do
as well. We all share this planet, but we do not do it in the same conditions nor we all face the same
hardships; but we do want to share the same values: equality, compassion, generosity, companionship,
camaraderie. We need to aid those that cannot fend for themselves as easily as we can, and we need to
make changes so we can all live a life without regrets knowing our actions helped another human being.