Empowering everyone especially the person with disabilities has been our motivation for this online campaign. We believe that encouraging them to be a better person will go a long way and can impact the people around them as well.
But what does empowerment mean? According to Wikipedia, it is the process of becoming stronger and more confident, especially in controlling one's life and claiming one's rights. This process may not be overnight, but it will take time for a person to manage their life.
Therefore, empowerment can also come from a support group which enables a person to conquer their sense of hopelessness and lack of power, and to appreciate and use their resources.
For our last story for the “Person with Dignity” series, we will learn how a person with disability was empowered with the people around him and his resources that he has.
Let’s Get Started
The person that we have interviewed for this last installment of our story series is very inspiring and empowering. He did not let his disability to be a hindrance in life, rather he used it as an inspiration and motivation to reach for his dream.
His name is Ray Kenneth Arana or Ken for short. Currently, he is working as an online freelancer while looking for a more sustainable job. He was officially diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) because of his mild autism.
One of his many hobbies are to watch news, movies, and documentaries. He also loves to listen with different music. Like the other stories, we gave some questions to Ken and we got some inspiring insights from him.
As for the first question, we asked him about his opinion regarding dignity and its importance to all of us especially the PWDs.
According to Ken, dignity is having self-respect to oneself. We cannot have dignity if we do not respect our own identity and ourselves being a person.
Moreover, he also added that having dignity is most important for PWDs like us because we are one of the marginalized sectors in the society.
Our dignity will enable us to represent ourselves in this world that we are living and will help the people to understand that we are capable too. We can let the people know through our dignity that we also have the same right to live like they do.
We, the Person with Disabilities are also part of the society and we can also make an impact to the society. Our dignity will empower the people in realizing our capabilities and not just our disabilities.
As for the next question that we gave to Ken, we asked him if he has some achievement to share with us which can inspire other PWDs like him. He said that one of his greatest accomplishments in life is to finish his studies.
Last 2018, Ken graduated at University of the Philippines Open University with a bachelor’s degree of Art in Multimedia Studies. He was given an outstanding achievement award because of his academic excellence.
Even though in his early college years, he made some major adjustments. With this distance learning type of schooling, he is not used to it because he came from a conventional school (physical classroom setup). However, Ken feels so dignified and happy in his whole time in his alumni, UPOU.
It made even more special for him because he was able to spend more time with his family at home because of the home-based study setup in UPOU. All the lost time from his traditional school years have been recovered during his college years.
That’s why he considers his time in UPOU as one of his greatest achievements in life. He also said that his graduation is a proof that people with disabilities can achieve something too.
The empowerment that he received from his studies made him more dignified and made him more confident in life. Moving forward to the last question for Ken in our interview, we asked him the dreams that he has and his hope for the future.
Here is the answer that we got from him,
I hope that someday, more opportunities will come for us PWDs, especially when looking for jobs. We may have our own hindrances, but we can also do what other people do, and I hope employers do not discriminate in choosing their potential workers.
Ken also shared an inspiring insight for his fellow PWDs. He said that we should continue doing what we love. Look for your passion and develop your skills further.
We must also spend time with your loved ones especially to your parents whenever you can because they definitely help you in self-development.
Story Takeaways
For this last story of our series, we got so many insights and lessons from Ken. But we will only share one lesson that really stands out. With the story of Ken, we were inspired and motivated to continue what we are doing in this project and that is to empower people.
We have learned in this story that self-development starts with an empowerment from someone else and your life experiences. Thanks to the people that supported Ken in his college years and even right now, he was empowered to be a better person and to have greater self-confidence.
Right now, Ken is living his life to the fullest with all the lessons he learned from UPOU and the people he met along the way. He was able to gain dignity, hope and faith for the future. It was all made possible because of empowerment.
Therefore, let us not get tired of empowering ourselves and the people around us because it can make a big impact to the society.
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