by Brianna Ruth Audrey
Just like the Taj Mahal and The Great Wall of China, nothing extraordinary can be built overnight. It takes time to perfect the right concept and build an effective work environment that ensures smooth sailing for a project — many aspects demand attention for a project to work out.
However, it is safe to say that for a project to truly succeed, it must first serve its primary purpose. That purpose lingers on visions from questions like, “Why was this project created?” or “Who will the project help? How can this project create a beneficial impact?” If a team, or their leader, loses the drive to fight for their vision and purpose, then the chances of said project to experience difficulties would come sooner than anyone would have ever expected.
Looking back on our journey in the past year, ABILITAS.ID is fortunate to have leaders that continuously cling on to their visions. Radhe Ayu Dewi A.R. (left) and Christella Fenisianti (right), our co-founders, have their own reasons for why they decided to establish ABILITAS.ID. Those reasons became the core vision of this project, evolving into a very exciting and beneficial purpose.
According to Radhe, her drive came from her experience as an exchange student at Ann Arbor, USA, in 2014. There, she befriended Gavi, an autistic student who introduced Radhe to the inclusivity of USA’s public schools. It wasn’t a big deal for the student body that Gavi had disabilities; students of that high school accepted and befriended Gavi and all the other students with disabilities.
Radhe had never seen such a beautiful exchange in Indonesian schools. She couldn’t even recall an experience where she met a student with a disability back in her home country. She felt that this image and feeling of inclusivity was too beautiful to not be shared with everyone else in the world.
With that, Radhe intended to make Indonesia a much more inclusive country for people with disabilities. One of the easiest ways to promote inclusivity was through education. Hence, ABILITAS.ID came to light as an educational platform to catalyze inclusivity for Indonesia.
Things are a bit different for Feni. Her reason was based on something much more personal compared to Radhe’s experience. It all came down to Feni’s belief that the birth lottery truly exists; that you can never choose the body that you are born into. This is due to the medical complication that hinders Feni from freely doing the things that she wants.
There is a blood tumor on Feni’s right arm that, if disturbed, could swell and hurt badly. This cost Feni the comfort and freedom of using her right arm when the swelling constantly occurs. It also forced her to learn how to do things with her non-dominant hand. This condition frustrates Feni at times.
This personal experience made Feni realize how much harder it is for people with disabilities to live their daily lives. Because of it, most of them in Indonesia are not able to fulfill their dreams. With the infamous stigma that society has on them and the lack of help from their environment, people with disabilities are usually casted out. Many companies would not hire them because they are seen as a liability. With that being said, Feni saw the importance of building a platform that can give people with disabilities the same chances and opportunities like the ones available in our society. This platform will then accentuate the talents that people have shunned out just because they are people with disabilities.
Based on those two stories, Radhe and Feni came to find the sole purpose of ABILITAS.ID’s existence. It is a platform that promotes inclusivity, equal chances, and becomes a home for many dreams. With ABILITAS.ID, they also wish to develop the talents and abilities of people with disabilities so that society can’t help but pay attention and see how truly gifted they are.
Of course, there are many challenges in running the project. There are essential matters, such as finance, credentials, and manpower, and other elements needed to build a project. For Radhe and Feni, they thought that the main challenge was actually on how to make sure that the students are given the support and help that they truly need. However, after some time, answers for said challenges came rolling in themselves, and ABILITAS.ID was able to go through with their plans.
Thanks to all of ABILITAS.ID’s team, the project has seen so many developments and breakthroughs in just one year. We now have 85 students, seven school partners, four programs, 104 volunteers, and seven sponsors. These achievements would have never happened if Radhe and Feni decided to abandon their visions and never created ABILITAS.ID purpose.
We hope that with ABILITAS.ID’s first-ever anniversary, we can inspire more people in creating a positive change based on their dreams and purpose. We also hope that what we are doing can spark a significant development in Indonesia’s inclusivity towards people with disabilities. We are all people with great potential; it is just a matter of whether we want to serve our purpose in life.
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