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For many physically disabled persons in DR Congo, bracing can significantly improve dignity, mobility, and the quality of life in general.
For those who otherwise would have to continue crawling on "all fours", the change is usually fairly dramatic.
Africa presents special challenges for those who can’t walk at all. Since streets are often unpaved, muddy, and full of people’s rubbish, and as bathrooms are in many cases only primitive outhouses, just staying clean is a continual challenge for people who have to crawl or drag themselves along the ground to get around.
Not surprisingly, of course, many Congolese youth who are disabled to this extent also remain socially marginalized and suffer from a lack of self-esteem.
Comment: Non-disabled persons are often uncomfortable interacting with people who are on the ground and getting around on "all fours." Many people would prefer to avoid contact with severely-disabled persons to the extent possible so as to avoid having to think about how much more challenging life might be for people with physical disabilites. Others fear that the disabled person's hands, legs and clothes will be dirty from contact with the ground, or that the disability might somehow be contagious. Finally, in DR Congo, as in many other undeveloped countries, uneducated people may believe the disabled to have been "cursed," the physical disability being a supernatural "punishment" to the person or his/her family for some misdeed. Generally, it is difficult for much of society to not view the disabled as "ruined," and incapable of contributing much to society.
Clearly, such attitudes on the part of the non-disabled can have serious psychological repercussions for the disabled individuals themselves. Many become so self-conscious and lacking in self-esteem that they accept to live more or less on the fringe of society and associate only with other disabled persons.
Though being able to stand and walk with braces and crutches is by no means a solution to the problem of how to make a living in an underdeveloped country like DR Congo, it unquestionably helps “level the playing field” in the general competition for survival, and, most importantly, usually has an enormous positive effect on both the disabled person’s own self-esteem and on the degree of respect granted him or her by others in the society.
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