Helping the disabled find hope

By Isabel de le Maza

For the last 15 years or more, I’ve been using ToP methods to hold conversations and workshops with disabled people throughout Chile. In our courses we’ve had people suffering from a range of difficult situations. They include people suffering from illnesses not treated on time; those with impaired kidney functions or eyesight; victims of thrombosis; and people forced to rely on  walking sticks or wheel chairs.

The courses were funded by various government linked bodies and SOFOFA, an organization supported by Entrepreneurs Social Responsibility. One course was held in Concepción in 2010, just after it was hit by an earthquake. They involved earthquake victims who had lost relatives, their homes and suffered acute medical problems.

This year, I visited one of the participants from that course to find out how she was doing. Elena Barra lost her house in the earthquake. She is a diabetic, has suffered two thrombosis incidents, uses a walking stick, is divorced and has two children. She was delighted to see me and told me she had started working and was able to get a very pretty apartment. The ICA course diploma was displayed in her living room.

She told me what her life was like before and after the course. At the beginning, her situation was critical. After the course, she woke up one day with hope and tried to solve her housing problem. Finally, after much paperwork, she got an apartment specially prepared for her disabilities. She now runs a small enterprise from home to support her children and herself.

Many times I’ve been overwhelmed by the situations of our course participants. But my team and I kept on using ToP methods, waiting to see change among the participants - the positive awakening so necessary after the huge tragedies they had suffered.

Elena’s case gave me hope. I felt that our work with disabled people made sense. My hope is to continue with these courses. As I had not seen Elena after the course, I had not thought about the impact that the course would have made on her. After talking to her, it was clear that while she was participating in the course, a new possibility was being born in her: her self-image had changed from that of a victim without hope to that of someone who could stand up and do all the paper work required to change her situation. Today, Elena has proved that she can fight to better her life situation despite her illnesses. She sees the possibility of overcoming her difficulties through the awakening of her “inner Master” and through self-motivation, thus changing her self-image from that of a victim to one that is positive and hopeful.

As a teacher, I recognize that the ToP methodology tries to get people to go through deep reflections that evoke change. It was difficult for me at first to change from being a teacher delivering contents to becoming the facilitator of a process. I recognize after years of applying this process, that it produces results by triggering big personal and organizational changes.

We still offer these courses to the disabled people in Chile to give them the possibility of acquiring a new self-image; of overcoming difficulties; of taking inner decisions; of taking a look at themselves and fight to develop new ideas despite their difficulties.

Isabel de le Masa is a member of ICA Chile