So here’s a cool piece of trivia: It recently came to my attention that the Vice President of Ecuador is a paraplegic. I LOVE to hear about politicians with disabilities – FDR, the Mayor of Vancouver. It is awesome to see someone with a disability being respected and with power. What can I say? We need more of it! And VP Lenin Moreno, 58, is showing just how its done; helping his fellow disabled brothers and sisters in a country that once shunned disability, but now thanks to Moreno, is slowly changing.
Moreno was a successful lawyer and politician before his injury, and held a post in the Ministry of Interior in 1996. In 1998, he was shot while buying bread in Quito, the capitol (in a country with 35% of the people living in poverty, sadly, this is not unheard of). After his injury, bedridden and had neurological pain for about 4 years, he used the power of laughter to heal, eventually becoming a motivational speaker, and has written 5 books on laugh therapy. Moreno is married, has two teenage daughters and is also quite handsome (picture of his sexy mug here).
After being elected in 2007, Moreno transferred the country’s disability services to the Office of the Vice President, and has been making some sweeping changes to the way the country helps it’s disabled citizens. He’s seen some sad things since traveling his country since being elected, and has said he’s seen people with disabilities being hidden in sheds and in chicken coops, a practice not unheard of in a country where disability is looked as a punishment from God. Before Moreno came into office, the budget for disabled care was $100,000. Now with Moreno’s help, the budget is $65 million.
He also initiated the first official count of Ecuador’s disabled citizens, “citizens who need priority attention as granted by the Constitution,” and sent government representatives to the far reaches of the Ecuadorian countryside to that end. They discovered 4% of the population, 294.611 citizens, had a significant disability (less than 12% of Americans with disabilities). The study was done in conjunction with Cuban doctors.
To watch a fun Ecuadorian commercial (it’s a PSA) with Lenin Moreno, highlighting assistance for people with intellectual disabilities, click here.
And to read a full interview with Moreno by The Miami-Herald, check out In Ecuador, disabled vice president is inspiration to others
im glad if thats what this man is really doing but i have 2 handicap sisters to care for and i have googled him contacted other organizations and they say they know the contact info but cant give it out and i cant find any contact info on him or his organization whats the name of his organization? why is everything so secretive? whats really going on ? all i wanted was a new chair for my sister who was born a paraplegic and from a country alot more poor then ecuador
I am not sure what country you are in, but maybe you could try contacting Wheels for Humanity http://www.ucpwfh.org/