Disabled children are routinely portrayed as children who can’t do anything. But the real issue is that their accomplishments are usually dismissed and the main crucial act of taking them for exercises is usually avoided.
These limitations can hit families hard and may make them view their disable children as burdens.
However, Molebogeng, as a mother of a child with special needs, spent a fair amount of time telling her story and advocating for her daughter. Just like any other parent, it was not easy for her when she learned about her daughter’s condition (cerebral palsy). However, she gives as much love and attention to her daughter, against all odds.
Some parents will consistently grieve their kid’s lost potential, and some conditions become more bothering with time but Molebogeng has accepted the condition and is ready to educate and go far beyond in encouraging others to raise awareness about children with special needs. Raising awareness starts with educating children about conditions of special needs, so that they grow up knowing that disabled people are not different from them, except they have limited abilities.
“I can honestly say that in a case where in kids start asking questions about a disabled child, it’s important as parents to sit with our children down and explain to them that the other child is differently abled.”
“Tell them he or she has limited abilities to do certain things that other children can do, and just because he/ she cannot do something that doesn’t make him/her less of a human,” Moleboheng said.
Raising a special needs child accompanies an entire bag of emotions that can be hard to handle and perhaps the hardest for many parents like Molebogeng is the isolation they feel.As soon as her daughter got diagnosed with her first condition, certain people’s behaviour towards her changed.
“I was always conformed to my room, because there wasn’t much information surrounding disabilities, my daughter was 1 of 2 children living with severe disabilities in our small village so most people started to treat me and my daughter as if we had some type of contiguous disease and some still do to this day.”
“It’s also hard to maintain relationships especially romantic relationships because of the experience that I have had with people in general so I fear having to expose my child to a situation where I have to explain her condition to my partner’s family,” she said.Against all the odds, Molebogeng, exploits every opportunity she gets to fight for her daughters rights. She is willing to go an extra mile to fight not only for her daughters’ rights but for the rights of disabled children in general.
“I studied towards a degree that has equipped me with the necessary information to start my own NPO/NGO that will cater for children with special needs and their mothers,” She said.
By Thabang Rammutla
