Franklin Roosevelt was elected president of the United States four times and led the country through the Great Depression and World War II. He did all this while in a wheelchair.

He was a rising star in the Democratic party when polio struck him and left him with paralysed legs. Imagine if he had not been allowed to be in politics because of his disability.

Early this week, a 14-year-old wheelchair-bound student, New Delhi Joseph Vaafusuaga was allegedly not given admission into Maluafou College and his family claimed that he was spoken to in an insulting manner by the school’s principal.

The student had passed his entrance examination. This showed that he was very able to be part of Year Nine at the school. The principal has refuted claims of denying admission saying her concern was that the school was not disability friendly and parents had just left him at school and the school was not aware if he had any special needs.

Understandably, the principal or the school had never been in a situation where a student with a disability was granted admission at the school. However, the school has to ensure that every child who turns up to the school or in this case passes the entrance examination is allowed a chance to further his or her education.

New Delhi’s disability is that he cannot walk. His cognitive development and ability to learn are as good as a person who can walk and run. His story reflects the struggles faced by many people with disabilities. Access to education, employment and equal treatment has been denied time and time again.

Things have changed compared to the past when children with disabilities were not at all given the chance to get an education. There are some special needs schools catering for the deaf, blind, children with autism and those with intellectual disability. Some parents make all the effort to take their children to these schools while some feel it disability is an embarrassment. This attitude needs to change.

Then there are children like New Delhi who have a physical disability but can perform better than most students in a ‘normal’ classroom. What is the use of government leaders trotting the globe and signing conventions that say we will allow access to education and employment to the disabled and nothing is done on the ground to reflect that?

Children like New Delhi can be part of a normal school setting from primary school. The problem is that the education system in our country is not thinking that way. It has become a norm to push such children to special needs schools when they can thrive in normal schools.

The government through the education ministry needs to look at this seriously. There is also a need to make all schools disability friendly. It is not just schools that are not disability friendly, the lack of ramps and disability-friendly toilets are a hallmark of almost all our buildings, sporting facilities, streets, footpaths and public transport.

It is shameful, depressing and not right, that children with disability are not allowed a chance at education. This is a failure of the society, the education system and elected leaders. We will never know if New Delhi could be a future leader or innovator until we give him a chance just like Roosevelt was.

Imagine if Stevie Wonder or Ray Charles were not allowed to play the piano and sing because they were blind or if Hellen Keller was not allowed to read and write. Would the Braille system have been invented if Louis Braille, who went blind as a child was not allowed to continue education?

All children must be allowed access to education, disabled or otherwise.