Today, 3rd December, is the UN-announced International Day of Persons with Disabilities. On this day, people all over the world pause to reflect on those who, through no fault of their own, are somewhat different from the rest of us in their ability to do certain things all of us should be able to do. Disability, be it physical or mental, is a burden disabled persons have to bear throughout their lives. Most often, their burden is gruelling not because of the limitation due to the disability itself but because of the perception, both by the disabled and by those of us who see the limitations but not the eclipsed capabilities and potentialities of the disabled individuals. And the burden is all the heavier for those who have mental disabilities. They suffer more because their condition is often invisible, and therefore they receive less sympathy and understanding, whether by family and friends or the community at large.
However, in quite a number of conditions, mental disabilities can be completely reversed with understanding and support for the sufferers, and with cooperation between the affected persons and the people around them. PTSD is one such condition. It is not a disability per se, but if left unaddressed or inadequately addressed, it can develop into lifelong disability. This is where Aftermath Association sees a niche it can fill. With a vision of eliminating mental and spiritual anguish by healing through giving, and responding to human need with human care, it has undertaken its Camp Aftermath project which seeks to set up a community of givers and receivers striving for the holistic healing of mind and spirit. Camp Aftermath seeks not only to help PTSD sufferers from being sucked into the vortex of disability, it aims to help those affected by PTSD replace the memory of their haunting experiences with “positive anchors” and thus regain the peace of mind and self-confidence that those experiences robbed them of. Aftermath Association is in the final stages of preparation for Roto 0, the first rotation of participants suffering from PTSD at Camp Aftermath in Costa Rica, sometime in the first half of 2018.
On this International Day of Persons with Disabilities we, Aftermath Association members, feel certain that next year this time we will have the satisfaction of having helped save a number of PTSD sufferers from the vortex of disability. The smiles on the faces of Camp Aftermath participants, and their families and friends, will be all the reward we aspire to. And, we are certain, those smiles, and the number of people wearing them, will continue to grow…
