August Issue 2013

Apropos Newsline’s article on living with multiple sclerosis (‘The Silent Struggle’), I would like to draw your attention to the problems faced by people with disabilities in this country in general. Banks and offices rarely have ramps for wheelchairs and disabled parking is a foreign concept in Pakistan. Be it voting in the recent elections or simply watching a movie at a cinema, people with physical disabilities face such immense difficulties in everyday life that they often feel completely excommunicated from society.

The article advises, and rightly so, that when one has a physically debilitating disease like MS, they must remain hopeful and active. But the writer does not mention how even if you try to be positive, the odds are often stacked against you here in Pakistan.