Waed

My name is Waed. I am from Syria.

 

On that day I was just leaving the house to visit our neighbour. A sniper shot me.

I was rescued to my Uncle’s house and I received medication for two months. I received physical therapy at the beginning, but then the security situation became tighter. The therapist skipped some sessions several times because he wasn’t able to reach me. That’s why I was advised to leave to another region that is considered safer. That’s why we came to Jordan. At the beginning it was only my mother and sister who joined me. Afterwards the rest of the family joined us.

At the beginning here in Jordan I did not leave the house. In the first year my psychological status was very bad. At the beginning the physical therapist used to visit me at the house, and then I decided to get therapy at the centre. Leaving the house to the rehabilitation centre has helped me a lot.

My therapist introduced me to a person who works in the field of disability.

At the beginning he used to deliver lectures at the centre and give psychological support. After awhile I started to love the sessions and meeting other people. Because as a person with a disability you should always work on yourself, you should not expect that others will satisfy your needs.

I was offered a part time job teaching drawing for one hour a week. After taking this job I decided to leave the house alone. This helped to built up confidence in myself.

I received Disability Equality Training and I started to visit Syrian families who have a person with disability. After this training I started to realise our cause and what are the tools that I can use to defend our cause.

I started to visit a number of societies and organisations asking them for permission to deliver trainings on disability. After receiving the trainings their perspective changed. Before that they used to look for a disability in the person with disability. After receiving the training they started to look at other things that are disabling the persons. We visited 15 societies. We documented their information in a manual. So we started giving this manual away to persons with disabilities so they know where to go and find services.

Out of my experience I learned that no matter how much advice you provide for a person with a disability or how much psychological support you provide, he or she will not listen or accept that advice unless that comes from a person with a disability.

As a person with a disability my life did not end. I maintain social relationships. I still have the chance to get married and give birth to children.

My family keeps asking me, “what do you need?” I tell them I need nothing. The only thing I need is to keep moving. I like to be independent. I never rely on anybody.