Who are they??

Iresha Upulinee
29th, August, 2012

Who are they??

What will you feel when you lose one of your leg?

Even thinking about it is difficult, isn’t it?

It shows become a disabled person is how painful for us. They are having fewer opportunities to reach their goals than a non-disabled one.

When we study about these people they are not only having medical disability, they are having some social disabilities, but others are not sense about it. They cannot compensate the wrong of their body with the social activities what they really need to do as a normal person in a society. It means in addition to the treatments they need some psychological support as well.

There’s a different between impairment and disability.

IMPAIRMENT- An injury, illness or congenital condition that causes long term effect on physical appearance and/or limitation of functions.

DISABILITY- Loss or limitation of opportunities to take part in society on an equal level with others due to social and environmental barriers.

Colombo Friend id Need society is a Non Government Organization established in 1831 to help disabled people in Sri Lanka. The main functions those are conducting by them are;

v  Manufacturing artificial limbs for amputees.

v  Mobile work shop for distance services.

v  Education grants to disabled children.

They make both prosthetics and orthotics;

PROSTHESIS- Devices use to replace a missing body part.

ORTHOTICS- An orthopedic device that supports or corrects the function of a limb or trunk.

Disabled person is referred to this place by a Medical Officer in a hospital or through Gramasewaka in their area.

On admission they access the suitability of the stump to wear an artificial limb. If it is not suitable or having an abnormal shape the physiotherapist in the organization prepare the stump. When he explained about it he said that the conical shape is the best shape to wear prosthesis as it can bare more weight. He further said that by giving exercises to the stump and by bandaging the stump can make it more suitable. When we visit their workshop it consists number of prosthetics in different shapes and for different leg levels.

According to the workshop manager they have started to make prosthesis by using Aluminium. It was low cost. After the limb fitted to the amputee they start to train the person to work with the artificial limb.

Several years later one of a consultant in rehabilitation medicine has sent them some plastic artificial limbs. From that they used to make plastic limbs instead of Aluminium ones. Those are lighter than Aluminium ones.

When we were in the work shop we met a 60 years old male from Naaththandiaya walking around the shop. He was wearing a new plastic transfemoral prosthetic, and there was another prosthetic on his hand; it was an Aluminium one. Mr. Nepala, the assistant work shop manager has introduced him a new plastic limb and that the one he was wearing when we see him. The manager has also asked him to thrown away his old Aluminium limb. But when we see him after several hours later he was hanging the old one in his hand.

 I was wonder; even the new one is lighter than the older one he was unable to remove it away