By Bamidele Johnson
Videos of Isaac Kearney, the disadvantaged six-year old Liverpool fan, remind me of a story written for The NEWS by Funsho Arogundade well over a decade ago.
It was based on the account of a fairly famous figure on the entertainment circuit at the time. The man, father to a son with Down’s Syndrome, said he took the child to an office, where the front desk officer cruelly and foolishly asked who brought a demon in.
Naturally distraught, the man couldn’t do whatever business he went for and had to leave the office because of the naked discrimination against his child.
My pain at the time was-and still is-that he did not point out to the front desk person how dim he or she was. That, I think, should have been done in the most withering language. The man was used to that, the reason he didn’t hit back, he was quoted as saying.
That was then. I, however, doubt that we’ve evolved enough to be accommodating of people with disabilities, especially the type Isaac and that man’s son had. Isaac’s is Wolf-Hirschhorn Syndrome, a chromosomal abnormality that affects the brain, face, heart, movement and hinders intellectual development. It is said to affect one in 50k births.
As a society, we need to emulate the Liverpool FC Charity Foundation, which has championed the cause of Isaac and actually making him feel like a champion. Isaac’s parents, who were told by the doctors that their child might not walk, must be really chuffed to see him walk, talk and do other things everyone else does.
I hope everyone who’s seen those videos is moved by Isaac’s plight and those of others in similar conditions. We should be moved not just by the adversity they face, but also by how they overcome such.
Our contribution to how they overcome the challenges are crucial. Very crucial. Most of it is our reaction to them. It is our duty to shorten life odds against them by treating them with compassion.
Johnson, Journalist, Brand Communication Executive, Lives in Lagos