SA21 - Q
Group McSpicy - Blind Masahistas

Empedrado, Benjhoe

Espino, Mikka

Penarada, Tricia

Unson, Alie

1. Who is the identity you want to imitate? Why did you choose this identity?

For the project, the group chose to portray blind masahistas. What made our groups portrayed identity different was the blindness part. One reason for the portrayal was getting to see how people reacted to us offering massages for 20 pesos. In the bigger picture, the identity actually represents working persons with disabilities (PWD). The group deemed it interesting to see the general reaction of people when they see working persons with disabilities. According to Fink and Tasman1, stigma is the “most debilitating of all the problems that people with special needs [face].” This stigma pertains to the common conception that persons with disabilities or persons with special needs are “meager, tragic, pitiful individuals unfit and unable to contribute to society.2” The point of the portrayal then is to see the reaction of the Ateneo community to people who are trying to break this stigma.

On the other hand, it was also interesting for the group to portray blind masahistas because it was a challenge to really get in our character. Number one, it wouldn’t be easy to pretend to be blind. Number two, it was also a challenge to act as if we’re really dependent on our alalays for moving and interacting with customers.

To support our identity, we were able to get in touch with Miss Susan Pelayo, or Ate Susan, who is a blind masahista, doing home services in various places particularly her barangay and places around Paranaque City.

2. What is your identity’s main function in the society?

On the surface blind masahistas manifest function in the society is of course to relieve stress and to comfort people by massaging them. Going further though, blind masahistas function to prove the real capabilities of persons with disabilities. When you think about it, this has many implications to the society. For example, under the Philippine Republic Act 7277 or the Magna Carta for Disabled Persons, employers should give equal job opportunities to persons with disabilities3. Not only that, they are supposed to provide reasonable accommodations to persons with disabilities, which means the company should make the necessary adjustments in their machines, protocols, what-not, in order for their disabled workers to function more properly. This doesn’t only happen in the corporate setting, in the everyday life of a society, people are expected to treat PWDs more nicely, give them priority in lines, seatings, they even have more specialized ramps/ walkways.

To cut it short, working people with disabilities actually are capable of altering the society, its laws and systems. Oftentimes, these adjustments are due to the fact that there are disabled persons who are able. Not all of them are bedridden, trapped in their house forever; but rather, walk the roads of our streets with the normal people. However, as we can see in our own society, this doesn’t really happen.

3. How does he/she look like?

In general, working disabled people look the same as the normal people. As much as possible, PWDs try to hide their disability. This is called invisible disability, which happens when a physical disability is being hidden or not made obvious to others4. Example, a deaf person may opt to not wear hearing aids just so people wouldn’t know he’s deaf.

Our interviewee says that even if them masahistas are part of the lower class, they still make sure to dress presentably, keeping their hands clean and hair away from their face. Whenever Ate Susan Pelayo, who would be massaging customers in Moonwalk Village, Paranaque City, did home services, she would wear a uniform similar to those of nurses’/house helpers’ uniforms.  However when she was just in her barangay, she would wear her regular long skirt, t-shirt, and slippers. She did not carry a cellphone while massaging people, but she did carry around a towel and a small basket containing oil, tissue, cotton, a handkerchief, and a small coin purse. With regard to physical appearance, her skin color was really toasted since she worked under the sun, in front of her house. She kept her nails cut clean and short. Ate Susan Pelayo hid her disability, having blind eyes which were slightly white and grey in appearance, by wearing sunglasses (aviators actually).

4. How does he/she speak and behave?

People with disabilities act, speak, behave like normal people although with some modifications obviously because of their physical condition. Ate Susan acts like a normal person although she has to be sometimes guided by her niece Shirley or her sister. She is a very bubbly lady. Whenever she massages her clients, she loves talking to them and laughing. For new clients, she often talks about her life story. She shares about how she got to Manila, her sawi love life, and how she got sick and eventually got cataracts in both her eyes. However, for those she’s more acquainted with or for those who frequented her and those she was familiar with (suki), she likes asking about their love lives. She asks if her client is married, single, or was in a relationship. If her client is single, she flatters them that they are ‘gwapo’ at ‘magaganda’ and that they would find someone soon. Her humble personality overpowers her disability.

5. What are their beliefs in life? What are their values?

During the interview with ate Susan, she often mentioned, “Mahirap talaga ang buhay.” She said that she has to strive so much in a day just to pay her electricity and buy her necessities because she does not want to depend on her sister’s family for support. This shows that she really values independence and hard work. The first one she shares with other PWDs who wants to avoid being pitied by showing that they can do on their own. Furthermore, Ate Susan also doesn’t believe in begging. She said,”Mas gugustuhin ko pa na magpakapagod kaysa sa mang limos. Wala ka rin namang mapapala kung hindi ka mag tatrabaho at kung hindi mo tutulungan ang sarili mo...maski sumasakit na nga ang siko ko, tuloy pa rin sa pag hilot.” Typical of Filipinos, ate Susan is also religious, believing that she just always needs to pray to help her fix her problems, “...ipinapasa-Diyos ko na lang,” she added.

6. How does his or her day look like?

In the morning, ate Susan is able to make her own coffee or use the bathroom on her own since she is accustomed to the quaint house. Her sister, Mrs. Bhettsie, would then help her get dressed before managing the sari-sari store. After due preparation is done, Mrs. Bhettsie would now place ate Susan in front of the sari-sari store while she manages it. During lunch time, they would either take ate Susan inside for lunch or feed her right in front of the store. Also, on days that her niece did not have a job, she would accompany ate Susan to walk around nearby neighbors and take her inside by night time. It seems that even if this is ate Susan’s daily routine, she is content and is enjoying what she does. Through this, we can see that ate Susan’s daily life is rather positive despite the struggles of having physical disabilities.

7. Any sociological+personal reflections ? How did it feel being another person for a day

Being another person for a day did not completely turn out to feel the way we expected. Personally, we thought it wouldn’t be that hard to go around and ask people if they wanted a massage. When we were already there, it was somehow hard to get customers. Majority of the people said no. Moreover, the way they were looking at us was completely different to how they would have looked at us if we were our normal selves. There was a variety of annoyed, repulsed, uncertain, and confused faces in the crowd. Despite this, when we rotated alalays and the current alalay talked more and was being more sociable, more people took notice and agreed on getting a massage in the end, earning us a few pesos. The last customers we had ended up enjoying our massage and getting a good laugh in the end.

Taking it from our interviewee miss Susan Pelayo, a blind masahista, most of her kind are part of the lower class, they experience poverty. Structural functionalism says that poverty is supposed to provide society with the labor force, do the jobs that those in the upper class couldn’t do. However, to add insult to the injury, these are blind people that we are talking about. They are supposed to do nothing according to the second-class citizen stigma of our society.

This then poses two challenges to the blind masahistas -- one is to overcome negative perceptions of society, two is to overcome poverty. Having experienced being one of them for a good hour, it seemed to us that blind masahistas could be having a hard time with these two challenge. One, the variety of reaction from people in the Ateneo during the activity could be the same reactions that these masahistas face in offering and doing their job. The sad part is the blindness could be a trigger to the annoyed, repulsed, uncertain, and confused reactions of people, ultimately leading to refusal of service. This makes it harder for them to do their livelihood, which in turn makes making money harder, they are trapped to live in poverty.

Delving more in the context of the Philippines, although protected by a variety of rights, a lot of people are actually not informed of their rights, especially the poor ones. For example, many Filipino PWDs don’t even know their rights to equal education. In a 2005 survey by Philippine National Statistics Office, most of the PWDs are only able to finish up to high school5. The same statistics states that most PWDs stay at home as homemakers or unemployed.

Overall, although the specific identity was blind masahista, the group was actually touching on the topic of working people with disabilities. These are the people who continue to work and show that they function despite the attitudinal barriers that the society imposes upon them6. Looking at Ate Susan, she speaks and behaves normally, and could be more good-hearted than most regular people. Most of her beliefs are identical to the beliefs of the many (i.e. belief in religion). One difference though is her value of independence. We equate this to the desire of PWDs to be free from the bars of society’s negative stereotypes.

To conclude, we really enjoyed the activity. We learned a great deal of knowledge about the struggles of being a blind masahista. They face a double threat originating from the society: one on having low-income generating job, two, on being labeled as a disabled.

Resources

1. Fink, Paul Jay., and Allan Tasman. Stigma and Mental Illness. Washington, DC:

American Psychiatric, 1992. Print.

2. “A Brief History of the Disability Rights Movement." A Brief History of the

Disability Rights Movement. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Oct. 2014.

3. “Republic Act 7277." Http://www.ncda.gov.ph/. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Oct. 2014.
4. "What Is an Invisible Disability? - Invisible Disabilities Association - IDA."

Invisible Disabilities Association IDA. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Oct. 2014.

5. Ericta, Carmelita N. "5th Annual Meeting of the Washington Group on Disability

Statistics." Lecture.

6. “Attitudinal Barriers for People with Disabilities." Welcome to NCWD/Youth.

N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Oct. 2014.