After the rescuers move on to the next disaster and the eyes of the world move with them, the Haitians with disabilities will be buried under the crushing weight of the country’s other unmet priories

Haitian boy in wheelchair photo: Peter Trassi Haiti Mission (not related to NextStep)

By Ethan Ellis NJ Voices

Those of us with disabilities, like the rest of the watching world, have been horrified by the images of death, misery and physical destruction that have rolled off our TV and computer screens continually from Haiti for the last week. Like so many, we have shut them out, unable to stand the sight of another twisted body strewn in the street or tossed on a barricade as hopelessness turns to anger, unable to listen to the cries of another bandaged child torn forever from a family dead under unmoved rubble.

But, like the rest of the watching world, we are prompted to act, to do something, to give something that will connect us with that awful human suffering, but dull the pain of that connection. We must do something now, even though we know that supplies are piling up at the tiny Port au Prince airport because they can’t be trucked to those who will starve without them, even though other people’s money is pouring in so fast that many NGOs can’t count it, much less coordinate its use.

Those of us with disabilities who know the island also know that after the last body is buried, the last hospital is rebuilt and the country begins to come alive again as its rescuers move on to the next disaster and the eyes of the watching world move with them, that people like us, now multiplied by the earthquake’s crush will be buried under the crushing weight of the country’s other unmet priories.

Those of us at Next Step who know the island also know that the people like us will be left to die or survive as beggars unless somebody does something and that we are in the best, or the least worst position to do it. We also know that doing something will require a long-term commitment and a lot of guidance and support from those who know Haiti and its people better than we do.

As a first step we have created a donation page on the Partners In Health website. We chose Partners In Health (PIH) for several reasons: it shares Next Step’s values and commitment to social justice and human rights; it has been working in Haiti for more than two decades; and it has been selected by the United Nations to coordinate all hospital operations in Haiti during the earthquake emergency. Before that emergency ends, we will ask PIH for its ongoing guidance and support for Next Step’s long-term commitment there.

Right now, please visit the Next Step donation page and give whatever you can.

Editorial caution – although Next Step appears to be a legitimate charity, we have no proof they can deliver services in Haiti. You should contact them directly and ask them how they will dispense the money.

You may also want to research other charities that are already established in Haiti. Physicians for Peace are certified by InterAction and have a mandate “through Physicians for Peace’s partner network of Healing Hands for Haiti and St Vincent’s School for Handicapped Children (and others), both in Port-au-Prince, cash donations will go directly to provide immediate trauma relief and longer term assistance for amputees and disabled.”

In Canada, you may want to consider Broken Wings Missions Inc. which has an established record of setting up homes for those living with disabilities in Haiti and other countries.

Ethan Ellis

Ethan Ellis, who has cerebral palsy, is president and chief organizer of Next Step, a national disability organization, based in Edison, N.J., committed to social, economic and political change. In addition, he teaches disability policy as adjunct professor at University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey School of Public Health. (from Independence Today)

From 1991 to 2006, Ellis was executive director of the New Jersey Council on Developmental Disabilities. During his tenure there, the “vigorous advocacy from the Council,” Ellis said, New Jersey began to close its developmental centers, increased funding for education and community supports, adopted family support legislation and launched the Governor’s Inclusion Initiative, a demonstration project that shifted control over resources to the consumers who use them.

Before joining Next Step in 2007, Ellis was executive director of the Alliance for Disabled in Action, an independent living center in Central New Jersey. He is a member of the center’s board of directors and says that the Alliance and Next Step “are planning several collaborative projects.”