College of PT Hosts Lecture on Rights of People with Disabilities

To start off the National Disability Prevention and Rehabilitation Week, the College of Physical Therapy invited a speaker to give a lecture entitled “From Objects to Subjects: Towards Inclusion of Persons With Disabilities in Society.” Atty. Riku Virtanen is a delegate of the United Nations Convention for the Rights of the Disabled. He is also Vice-President of the Finnish Threshold Association.

After a prayer by Mr. Adlai Jerome Cipriano, the guest speaker was introduced by Dr. Josephine R. Bundoc, who was instrumental in bringing Atty. Virtanen to the school. Atty. Virtanen then talked about his personal experiences while growing up blind and deaf in Finland, about the United Nations Convention for the Rights of the Disabled, and about the Finnish Threshold Association.

Atty. Virtanen related his personal experiences while studying in an integrated school, one that includes persons with disabilities (PWD’s) with the general student body. Being deaf and blind, he related the problems he had were mostly in communication. To help him have equal opportunity with his classmates, his parents arranged for assistants who answered for him in class and to relay lectures. He also had a laptop which he can read through Braille. After the secondary level of education (the Finnish lukio), he entered university where he studied to be a lawyer. This is where he had heard of the Finnish Threshold Association where he became a member. He also completed a Masters’ thesis on the right to work of PWD’s.

He then talked about the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Disabled, especially on its Article 24, or on the Right to Education. Persons with disabilities should be able to study with full inclusion, without discrimination and with equal opportunity. One of the problems in today’s society, Atty. Virtanen laments, is that for PWD’s to be accepted in education as in any other field of undertaking, their skills or talents have to be at par with or exceed those of people without disabilities. They should also be allowed to decide their careers for themselves and not be influenced by parents or patrons.

He also introduced the Finnish Threshold Association. Established in the 1970’s, it aims to promote the status of PWD’s for independent living. They promote people’s rights as opposed to just their interests. Unlike other groups which use the Charity model (sees PWD’s as people who can not function in society), or the Medical model (PWD’s are seen as patients), the group functions on the Human Rights Based Approach, which sees people as people with rights. In the educational setting, they advocate the use of assistants to learning as opposed to segregated special education.

After his lecture, a panel of reactors gave their thoughts regarding the state of education of PWD’s in the Philippines. Dr. Raquel Cabazor, Dean of the College of PT. Atty. Jesusa Eleanor P. Siquijor - Magbanua, State Solicitor II, of the Office of the Solicitor General also talked about her experiences studying law in the Philippines.


The guest speaker had a busy month, coming from Naga City where he was also a guest in the opening of National Disability Prevention and Rehabilitation (NDPR) Week there where he also attended the inauguration of a branch of the Resources for the Blind. He also attended the launching of the NDPR Week by the Philippine Medical Association and at the College of St. Benilde. Atty. Virtanen was in the country through the efforts of the Chair of the National Anti-Poverty Commission, Mr. Lauro Purcin.

In an example of his country’s advanced views and practices on the rights of PWD’s in the field of education, Mr. Virtanen presented his lecture through his two assistants who he took his thoughts in Finnish. These assistants in turn relayed these thoughts in English, all the while passing on any questions to him via sign language. Being vision-impaired, he receives the sign language through feeling the movements and hand signs of his assistants.

In attendance were Dr. Wilhelmina Atos, College Secretary of the College of Nursing; Mr. Jesson Butcon, College Secretary of the Graduate School; Dr. Natividad Salazar, Head of the Department of Medical Humanities; Dr. Rene Punsalan, Head of the Department of Neurosciences; Dr. Jennifer Nailes, Head of the Department of Preventive and Community Medicine, and Ms. Jemma De Leon, Chief Dietitian of the Dietary Department; among others.