The international human rights NGO, Light for the World, announced a union that will focus on giving a voice to people with disabilities in developing nations.
The group says it has received a declaration of support from its newly formed international board of ambassadors, who has promised to work towards creating a society for people who are abandoned because of a disability.
Light for the World says on average people with disabilities and families with a disabled member experience higher rates of being poor, including food insecurity, poor housing and lack of access to water and medicine.
Gabriel Muller is the director of public relations for Light for the World. He stated the international board of ambassadors is comprised of seven internationally famous individuals that include Ethiopian running legend and Olympic medalist Haile Gebrselassie and Kenyan Paralympic gold medalist Henry Wanyoike.
“We have several people, who self-advocate from Ethiopia and Kenya, up to Lord Joffe and who even defended Nelson Mandela in court in the 1960s. So these people can make a difference if they raise their voice and if they use their networks to create support for the rights of people with disabilities,” explained Muller.
Muller said while Light for the World is a specialized organization that focuses on eye diseases and blindness in developing countries, they also provide support for people with any type of disabilities.
“As we can see, also following the world report on disabilities by WHO and the World Bank, households with members with disabilities usually have much lower income, and have less access to medical care, education and so on. So again, poverty is leading to disabilities, and disabilities are leading to poverty, especially in developing countries,” said Muller.
He said members of the board of ambassadors have already been partnering with developing countries to give voice to those who might otherwise lose their dignity as well as the hope of living in an inclusive society.
24. Light for the World was set up mainly to ________.
A. improve the living standards B. give help to blind people
C. help people with disabilities D. adopt abandoned people
25. The underlined phrase in Paragraph 4 can be replaced by “________”.
A. is divided into B. is made up of C. is picked out D. is mixed up with
26. Which of the following is TRUE of the ambassadors of the international board?
A. They have great international influence.
B. They are all from developing countries.
C. They stress the importance of human equality.
D. They plan to partner with developing countries.
27. What can we learn from the passage?
A. The income of a person depends on his education level.
B. Families with disabled members usually live a harder life.
C. Disabled people are mostly living in developing countries.
D. The poorer the people are, the more disabilities they’ll have.