Letters to the editor
State of the mentally challenge
Sir,
While our society does not neglect the physical existence of the mentally challenged people, it knowingly or unknowingly forgets the human part of their existence. Instead of treating them by finding out what has been the cause of their emotional turmoil, they only consider what appears in front of them as a result of continuous ignorance shown towards them. No one tries to understand their condition and when their temperament uncages itself by its manifestation in destructive manner, only then we do try to apprehend their troubles but still instead of helping them out, we subject them to inhuman treatment. They are either locked or chained up or made a part of vigorous treatments that in most cases are not required.
They live their life in ways different from us; their means and mode of action might reveal themselves in ways that society deems unacceptable but that does not mean that we forget that they too are humans like us. We have no right to label them as demented beings without any knowledge of their internal strife and battle. It is safe to say that society has till today played a role that itself is socially and morally unacceptable.
It is okay to talk to them, it helps them heal. By labelling them with a title we break the basic human code for social contact and deprive them of the amenities that they deserve. Without any knowledge of how they might react, we shun them. We consider them to be harmful, forgetting that the self-proclaimed sane persons of this world have harmed it more than any other being. It is time we put an end to the obsolete treatment that these people are subjected to and start finding ways that will help in determining and understanding the root cause of their issues and complications and start helping them by not provoking and aggravating their worries, by not lamenting at their different outlook on life but by making them believe that they deserve unconditional love and care and that there are still some people who are willing to understand the problems that trouble them.
Asafa Ali Dhaka
