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4 I The Best Online Education System in the world
AN AWE-INSPIRING VIDEO
Kathlyn Q. Barrozo
Class of 1991, University of Santo Tomas
B.S. Medical Technology
I was browsing through You Tube for practical videos which I could use for my class when I came upon one
uploaded in 2009 which showed people going about their duties and jobs with nary a complaint or a negative
thing to say about their occupations. What makes the video different? All the people in it, while doing great at
their chosen careers, were all people with disabilities.
The first was a woman who was bound to a wheelchair (well, all of them were on wheelchairs) and who works
as a multimedia computer art teacher. This was aside from the fact that she was a mother to two girls. The
second was an attorney for the US Environmental Protection Agency. He knew that getting a college education
was the key to getting a career, so he went and got himself a degree and a subsequent career in law. The third
was a coach for wheelchair-bound basketball players. He had wanted to be a PE teacher, but opted to become a
coach instead. The fourth was a community services coordinator for the district attorney’s office. He had
known that colored and disabled people like him were at a distinct disadvantage in the real world. The fifth was
a man working as a senior policy analyst for the National Consortium for Health Systems Development. At least
two of the five people featured in the video acknowledged their family and friends’ acceptance as being
instrumental in their decisions to become more than what they could ever be.
One common factor among all of them was that they all had a passion to strive to be more than what people
had expected them to be. They pursued a college education because they had known that without one they
couldn’t really carve their own niches in a world full of normal, physically-able individuals. They never let the
cruelty and prejudices of other people get to them. In other words, they had the passion to be greater than
what others believed they could ever be.
If you take these people’s situation vis-à-vis the situation of people who find their jobs more uninteresting than
a boring documentary, you would get inspired by the amount of passion for independence that the physically-
disabled people had demonstrated. The five people in the video never let their conditions hinder them in any
way towards reaching their dreams. For them, the world is a place meant for every one—normal or not. They
knew their goals were reachable, like everybody else’s, and they were entitled to an opportunity to live their
lives as they chose.
Let us derive inspiration from such people. Such people who choose to live life fully, without thinking that their
disabilities are to be taken as walls that can’t be scaled, are excellent examples of people living life and doing
their jobs with great fervor, with immeasurable passion.
QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION:
1. How can a person with a disability cope with his condition? Is there an easy way to deal with a disability?
2. If you were born with a disability, what career would you choose to have? Is there any difference from what
you would currently want to be?
3. Are there provisions in your country for disabled people who choose a career? Elaborate on your answer.
4. What career would you choose for a child who is born with a disability? Why?
5. How would you deal with a situation where you suddenly lose passion for your job?