“The
Promise of Technology: Creating Enabling Environments”
What
is technology now? It’s hope. Hope for a new, better life, for
accessible and effortless jobs, for a brighter future that waits to
be discovered. Have you ever wondered how the real world outside our
little glass globe looks like? How people who do not hide behind
skyscrapers and fancy boulevards survive?
Last
weekend, I went to pay some members from a social organization in a
rural area near an important and developed metropolis a visit. Before
I got there, I did not know what to expect: I had no details about
the leader of the NGO or about the difficulties the community was
encountering at the moment. Arriving at the meeting venue, an
unpretentious, medium sized building with no unique or even
noticeable architecture, I met some amazing people who explained them
what kind of uphill battle they were fighting with the system. The
founder of the organization tried to get access to funds in order to
create suitable conditions in schools for the students with
disabilities and wished that her voice was heard at the Human Rights
Congress.
The
technology has evolved in a massive way in the last decades, so at
the present time it can serve a multitude of different purposes: from
offering us a variety of entertainment possibilities to simplifying
our lives and bringing progress in the medical field. Therefore, what
scientists can now accomplish with technology is better than we have
ever dreamed of. Unfortunately, it all comes with a price and the one
in major need of medical interventions that will make them life
easier, normal and will enable them to develop cannot afford to pay
that huge price.
Furthermore,
when the states made the decision to sign the Human Rights
Declaration, they took the engagement to provide for each person
"security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability,
widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances
beyond his control" (Universal Declaration of Human Rights,
1948). Nevertheless, it is their duty to take care of the ones in
need and to protect and offer them the chance to have confidence in
themselves and to have a self-reliant and independent life. Creating
environments where people with disabilities, as we shameless label
them can bring their contribution to the society. Moreover, in every
single person on this Earth lies a genius ready to be set free. All
it takes in order to make that a reality is a dream, a bit of
ambition, a cup of courage and an opportunity.
In
addition to the above mentioned points, it is a common duty to help
the ones that have a dream, but could not realize it or did not have
the chances that the rest, the lucky ones, have because of hazard or
inhuman actions like wars, minefields or maltreatment. It is
imperative that we should take action and try to fund projects so
that everyone has access to unlimited possibilities.