I write with a degree of caution and hesitation. This is because, as a disabled person, my life is often portrayed as consisting primarily of pain and suffering.

It is often society that creates conditions when we are made to suffer- Gordon Cardona

This view is a misconception about our lives as persons having impairments and, in effect, such a view is the real cause of our suffering.

Before writing this article, I asked myself why people assume that because I have a visual and a physical impairment, my life is a tragic one characterised by pain and suffering. While I admit that I have felt intense pain and when life felt pointless and unbearable, I wouldn’t wish to define myself solely in those terms.

Indeed, I have learned to live with my impairments to the extent that they have become an intrinsic part of who I am and part of my daily experience.

I don’t consider my life to be dominated by pain or suffering. At least, my experience of suffering isn’t extraordinary and, as I see it, such suffering is part of a common human experience.

Unfortunately, society cannot legislate or take measures to end these moments in pain, except, perhaps, to ensure that disabled people have access to proper medical and palliative care and support.

Even if physical pain may be a characteristic of certain (and definitely not all) impairments and medical conditions, they don’t define us as persons. In this sense, we are not “sufferers”, we are not “afflicted” by our impairment and we certainly don’t have “special needs”. Indeed, who we are extends beyond our impairments.

At the same time, our impairments are also part of who we are and if we want true inclusion, we must acknowledge that we may have physical, sensory, intellectual or psychological impairments, but our needs remain the same as those of other members of society.

In this sense, the only difference is that we fulfil those needs using different means. In my case, I use a wheelchair to travel around and use a screen reader to access information. A deaf person may use Maltese Sign Language to communicate, a person with an intellectual impairment may require information in an easy-to-read format but the need is to understand that information.

People with mental health issues might require support and, in some cases, medical treatment, but we all have the need to belong. However, in all cases, the needs I have listed here are common to each of us.

In this sense, our impairments are not the main cause of our “suffering”. Rather, it is often society that creates conditions when we are made to suffer.

Granted, our impairments may cause particular problems, but the real cause of our suffering is our disability. Here, it is crucial to make an important distinction between impairment and disability. Impairment is related to the ascribed functional limitations of the mind or body while disability is caused by the way society is organised in such a way that it takes little or no account of our impairments. In the case of the former, society can do little but, in the case of disability, society can do a lot.

I must say that Malta has progressed considerably with respect to ensuring that disabled people have equal opportunities in society. Indeed, the Equal Opportunities Act (2000) is one of the most comprehensive pieces of disability anti-discrimination legislation in the world.

I note progress in education, employment, physical access, access to information communication technology and in other areas, perhaps access to public transport being the most recent development.

It would be naïve of me to say that there are no more problems. But we need to give credit to all those who are making inclusion a reality and reducing the barriers.

As a society, we need to make sure we do not exclude disabled people from being part of society simply because we fail to relate to people with impairments.

We are made to “suffer” when society forgets we exist or when we are misunderstood and misjudged simply because we happen to be different.

I feel this is our real suffering – a form of suffering that all of us can reduce if we worked together as disabled and non-disabled people. However, if we really want an inclusive society, we are the ones who must start the change.