People often say that life is unfair. They have this perception in life because people experience a lot of discrimination and challenging circumstances in their lives. We can’t blame them for having this mindset because it’s really hard to live a life in such situations.
However, some people were still able to cope up with those problems even though they are suffering. This person that we will feature in our story today is an example of it. He was able to live a life today with hope, faith, and dignity because of his acceptance.
Let’s Get Started
In today’s article, we will know the story of the person who accepted himself regardless of his circumstances in life. This person is such a poet that his answers during our interview were amazing. Therefore, we will let him write his own story.
Hello! I am Mark Jester M. Cuyno, 29 years old, and I’m currently taking up Bachelor of Education Studies at the University of the Philippines Open University.
I’m single and am currently working as an independent service provider as a home-based online teacher for Chinese and Korean students for 2 years now.
Among my hobbies are writing spoken word poetry, reading financial and fictional books, and playing mobile games. The category of my disability is Orthopedic disability because of a Spinal cord injury from hemorrhagic dengue that I had by 2006.
So, here’s my answer to the first question in this interview. Dignity, for me, is a summary of how you value your worth as a person. Thus, it is important because it affects how you see yourself.
It’s bound to a concept of self-image positively. It means that you can take pride in something you are excelling at and it determines how you push yourself to achieve goals.
I think Dignity is an internal state a person must consciously be aware of. It is a state of self-respect and the acknowledgment of your capabilities and potentials.
So, it’s very important for a person to have a positive self-reflection about dignity and to make sure that he is living consistent with dignity by doing honorable works like pursuing education or working or volunteering. These works will then approve that a person has dignity.
For a PWD, dignity is a vital part to cope up. Personally, dignity is a socially accepted behavior that can be integrated into a person.
I mean, a PWD with good social support will be more likely to live a more meaningful life and be a functioning citizen because his society values respect and personal growth.
However, this is not the case for all PWD. Some are facing ridicule instead of support. Others are neglected due to poverty or incompetent homecare.
Others are deprived of schooling because of their medical condition or the parents willfully resigned supporting the person. Socio-economic and socio-cultural factors can affect the realization of dignity for PWD. They can be affected by how society treats them, a crucial point for the formation of dignity.
As a PWD, what we need is an avenue to contribute to society and not be excluded from it. This is inclusion. And inclusion will then help us accept our current condition and help others value diversity and live with it. Thus, dignity is a key factor for a full recovery.
As for the achievement that I can be proud of is when I was invited to the Graduation Day of Alternative Learning System (ALS) last year which is hosted by the City Schools Division of Antipolo.
The event was meaningful to me because I got to share my medical and academic journey with fellow graduates who clung on to education, something that I am still pursuing until.
It was a surreal experience to study my MSA Reviewers, even if it's a blackout, and no one is guiding. ALS has been a place of frustration and triumph for me.
By 2009, I tried taking the accreditation exams, but I failed. I gave up returning to school by then after finding out that my caregiver intentionally hid the results so I would not feel bad about it.
I discovered it after some time and chose to cope up by focusing on my physical recovery and spiritual growth. As a way of coping up, I helped my younger sister go through her college by tutoring her with some of her subjects like English.
However, the divide or the void in my heart was still there. So, on her graduation day, I felt happy for her but how about me? I had no education, no job, and experience. All I had is a hope that I'm more than this.
A couple of years have passed after my sister’s graduation, a church mate and former high school teacher of mine persuaded me to go to ALS.
But this time, she directed me to an ALS teacher at a Public Highschool near our residence. I met Mrs. Bautista. She would deliver me a photocopied module, the gray ones, which I must answer by Saturday so she can check them and give me other activities.
Deep inside, I knew that this is the opportunity I am waiting for. And I am not taking no for an answer. I bought my MSA Review for college entrance exams while preparing for the ALS accreditation test around 2012.
By 2013, the results came in and I passed the test with an 83% mark. An envelope was mailed to our house, but I didn’t get to march on stage. But it’s okay. It means I already have my high school diploma, a key requirement for my college.
After I graduated from ALS, I began to look for a university that offers homeschool because I wanted to finish my studies. Angelicum came first but it's too expensive. Fortunately, the University of the Philippines has an Open University which is a homeschool for college.
So, I did what I had to, submitted my requirements and everything. It was an out-of-my-league shot but I took it. Praise God, I passed the entrance exam! Thus, my student number and college years start in 2014, a year of a new beginning for me.
I shared this journey of mine during my speech at the ALS Graduation Day. So that moment is a reflection not me of a success story but also of the reality that education gives equal opportunity for all people and dignity is bestowed for those who do not let go of it despite life-events.
Therefore, I’m so glad that I got to share my story with the graduates, emphasizing that the only thing I had then is the same diploma they were holding on to right now. And it made a huge difference, an impact in someone else's life to breathe the fresh air of hope and a new perspective in life.
But I still have a dream that I’m still pursuing and that is to finish my undergraduate degree and land a stable job to save money for other investments. Well, I think this is the social expectation for adults.
Hence, I realize that discriminations are always encountered by PWDs in one way or another. So, the only thing to personally get through hasty generalizations of people, we need to have a role in society despite our medical conditions.
There is a difference in context when you are just included in a good society compared to when you are pursuing good for yourself. The latter will make you an active participant of your choice, thus it is indeed your dream.
As for my hope in the future, I want to have a society that rallies self-actualization for PWDs, a society that dislodges the tendency of PWDs to enact a victim mentality that only deteriorates their self-concept and can affect their action.
I hope that this society will infuse education as a neutral level ground where normal and PWDs students can both thrive in a curriculum that fosters critical thinking and the development of high order thinking skills.
By doing so, a person, regardless of the situation, will then transform into an independent thinker who can apply discretion before enacting a construct smeared by people around them.
They now know how to handle situations when discouraging thoughts are pouring in from different social agents, be it friends, family, school, and even the government.
Moreover, they also now believe in their capabilities and now living it out by pioneering change, by dreaming ahead and inching forward to get them.
Let me end this story interview with a word of advice from someone who has experienced a lot of difficult situations in life.
As a person with a disability, denying our physical limitation is a destructive concept because you are not yet accepting your current condition now and will then wake up wanting to live a different life.
I had my disability when I was 16 years old, that’s why I knew the feeling of going back to a life you had and not being able to do something about it.
My acceptance took me almost 8 years. So now when someone asks me if I can walk again, I openly answer that it is permanent, and I embraced it.
Therefore, education and job is an important factor to help our sector regain its self-confidence. If you are now going through this phase right now, don't stop. You have made great progress now.
If there is one thing, I learned throughout my 15 years in wheelchairs is that you need to pick up yourself because no one is going to do that for you. We cannot depend even on our loved ones because they too have limitations and expiration.
So, from here forward let us enact our acceptance by continue doing good and getting tired about it. Let us pursue a cause, a life-mantra, a reason to live outside ourselves.
We can make sometimes be engulfed with our physical conditions and painful discriminations packaged with it, but the only thing that can define us is ourselves, our self-talk, our will.
Let us choose progress and be man enough to pay for it. Let us choose a better tomorrow because acceptance is the key to that door of tomorrow.
Story Takeaways
To be honest, the story of Jester is amazing. His self-confidence and self-identity are motivation and inspiration to all of us. Therefore, the most important lesson that we can get from his story is to accept your situation.
We may have different circumstances in life, it may not be the same with Jester, but we can still apply this lesson to our lives. Acceptance is always the key to move forward in life. People tend to be stuck because they don’t want to accept the fact of their reality.
Just like what Jester said, the lack of acceptance is destructive. It can destroy your identity, your relationships with other people, and your future as well. The choice is always in us whether we will accept our situations or not.
But remember, the choice that you will make today will affect your future. That’s why, as early as today choose to accept and move towards a brighter future.
If there a lot of people who don’t support you, ignore them because there are also a lot of people who are willing to help you throughout your journey and we are one of those people. Please feel free to contact us on any of our online platforms.
Always remember, live out your life with hope, faith, and dignity by accepting who you are and believing in yourself. Jesus loves you so much and so do we. God bless you.
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