People with disabilities, a pillar to get out of this crisis

Who would have told me less than a year ago, when I was starring in the most inclusive chimes on television, that 2020 was going to surprise us with a global pandemic that would paralyze the world.

I believe that not even the most audacious of visionaries could have foreseen the magnitude of what was coming our way.

But yes:

.

It caught us off guard and unarmed, when we hadn't even finished recovering from the "other crisis."

Personally, I recognize that I started the year with an extra dose of motivation, with the hope of starting a

in which

were going to be made

.

In a daily conversation with my colleagues from the Adecco Foundation, I literally came to say that "for 2020 I expected more and better" and that "an exciting decade was beginning that, without a doubt, was going to be that of inclusion."

2019 had been a great year and I am left with

.

For me, who has spent so many years trying to make people with disabilities visible and valued, it was one of the best gifts that life could give me.

How not to catch

and being excited about the decade that we inaugurated?

Impossible not to.

But in March the health emergency broke out and, against all odds, it made me doubt.

At least for a while.

Overnight, we were all vulnerable.

We feel fear.

Not only the virus, but everything he brought from his hand: lack of freedom, distance, uncertainty ... Fear of a new economic crisis (with what it cost us to get out of the previous one!).

Because as soon as the state of alarm was decreed, the news was already there, drawing a bleak panorama, in which poverty was going to reach unknown levels.

.

That if it was already difficult for companies to count on us in pre-pandemic times, the virus arrived and raised even higher walls, in the face of fierce competition willing to deepen inequalities like never before (what we lacked!).

That is why I want to take advantage of the framework provided by International Disability Day, December 3, to make an

.

So fast and simple.

We are a pillar to get out of this crisis and that is irrefutable.

We have a master in overcoming, sacrifice, empathy or the ability to reinvent ourselves.

But in addition, we have spent our whole lives feeling those emotions that for some have surfaced - almost for the first time - during the pandemic: helplessness, fragility or fear of isolation.

In that, my friends, we are years ahead of you.

We are veteran drivers.

We know that there are especially tough stages along the way, but we are used to drawing strength from weakness and navigating unpredictable potholes.

Why do many people keep sticking with what we can't do, instead of focusing on our capabilities?

Why do these prejudices and stereotypes weigh so much that they not only weigh us down to being second-class citizens, but also impoverish societies?

I think I speak for all people with disabilities if I defend that

.

And not only because of necessary social justice, but out of pure competitiveness.

Because if you now relegate us to the last place on the priority scale, we will all lose: not only will we regress in terms of inclusion, but our society will be much less diverse, competitive and interesting.

Something at least sad and discouraging, in the middle of the third millennium and after so many years of tireless struggle for equal opportunities.

In this sense, we can take two paths: that of

or that of

of us

.

The first, the result of that excessive individualism that has done so much damage in the history of humanity, would lead us back to the abyss of a weak and plaintive society, less and less prepared to face bad times.

, the one that brings out the best in people and turns us into a pineapple in the face of adversity.

Ultimately, it is in our power to decide whether the coronavirus throws it - or not - everything to the ground.

As a good Down syndrome, and without denying the initial discouragement, right now I am optimistic.

I think the will of most people is good.

And that in the face of the ideological polarity that surrounds us (and by the way, I find it so tiresome) there is something that unites us all: we want to defeat the happy virus and overcome the economic crisis.

Let's get to it.

From now on.

All together.

Also people with disabilities, of course.

Remember that we are 3 and a half million citizens.

Don't underestimate us.

.

"Don't leave us behind," as the wise men of the United Nations would say.

Neither us nor that 55-year-old who has a great experience, but feels rejected.

Not that young man who wastes his attitude, but to whom no one wants to give a first professional opportunity.

There are many people who face job discrimination every day and unfortunately I do not have enough space to mention them all.

But I do trust that this

will also open up a

for us to do things better.

It is time to show that we have learned from other crises and that people with disabilities, like many others, are not a frivolous ornament or icing on the cake when the world is doing well, but a fundamental pillar to build a stronger society and companies , more cohesive, more equanimous and much more resilient.

Pablo Pineda

is an ambassador for the Adecco Foundation and the first European graduate with Down syndrome.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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