The ’house without any stairs’

The Tahanang Walang Hagdanan located in Cainta, Rizal is perhaps the premiere private institution in the country that has championed the cause of people with disabilities (PWDs).

The center, as its name entails is devoid of staircases, which signifies complexity for physically handicapped persons or total rejection of them. The center has been helping people with physical limitations by also removing the difficulties they encounter like psychological, emotional and sociological factors that can prevent PWDs from becoming productive citizens.

Tahanang Walang Hagdanan Human Resource Department Manager Claire Llenares, who is also physically handicapped and has been with the center for 19 years, said that she became productive through the help of the center and served as an inspiration to other persons
with disabilities.

“Tinanong ko nga ang sarili ko, asan kaya ako matatagpuan ngayon kung hindi ko natuklasan ang Tahanan? [I asked myself, where could I possibly be found right now if I wasn’t able to discover Tahanan?],” Llenares said.

“Nung napunta ko dito sa center sinabi ko, ‘Eto na! Eto na ang hinahanap ko!’ [When I got here at the center I told myself, ‘This is it! This is what I have been looking for!’],” she added.

Among Tahanang Walang Hagdanan’s major programs is giving assistance not only to PWDs but also to their families to obtain access towards literacy. Medical assistance are also given to people in the center. Their continuing projects include the Handog Biyaya Movement, Bigay Alalay Drop Boxes, Gulong sa Pagsulong and Tulong sa Edukasyon among others.

Tahanang Walang Hagdanan is also continuing its recycling program, which started in 1996. The project began with the collection of aluminum cans that are recycled for use as materials for the manufacture of crutches, canes and walkers at the center.

Soon after, the recycling project expanded to incorporate collection of newspapers, magazines and books to be recycled by the center’s Handmade Paper Workshop and its community-based Rehabilitation project in Jala-Jala, Rizal. Tahanang Walang Hagdanan aims to increase its products from recycled materials to tables, chairs, bags and footwear.

Week for the disabled

The visit of The Manila Times to Tahanang Walang Hagdanan on Friday coincides with the last day of the observance of the National Disability Prevention and Rehabilitation Week, which is held annually to also honor the “Sublime Paralytic” Apolinario Mabini. He was a major figure in the Philippine Revolution at the turn of the 20th Century.

Tahanang Walang Hagdanan was founded in 1973 by Sister Valeriana Baerts, a Belgian missionary who was assigned as a volunteer nurse in the Philippines. With its programs, Tahanang Walang Hagdanan allows PWDs to bring back their sense of dignity and self-worth so that they can make the most out of their God-given abilities and potentials.

And Tahanang Walang Hagdanan’s recycling programs are very timely given the growing need for citizens to do their part in saving the environment. –Shylynne D. Castillo Reporter, Manila Times