Having a disability is a curse most people carry almost their whole lives. What we want, of course, is to give them even a tiny bit of comfort and privilege. And that’s why the government implemented a Magna Carta Law for disabled persons to protect, recognize, and support their rights.
World Health Organization describes disability as an umbrella term, covering impairments, activity limitations, and participation restrictions. That’s why not everyone can get a PWD ID. Visual impairment, Hearing loss, Orthopedic disability, Learning disability, Psychosocial disability, Chronic illness, and Mental disability—should you have any of the following, you may be entitled to get an ID. But of course, you first need to check with your physician if you are qualified to get one.
Let’s say you’ve visited your doctor and he/she says you can get a PWD ID, here are the things you should do and prepare next.
But before anything else, you need to get all the requirements in order to have a faster transaction and process. The requirements are as follows:
- Barangay Certificate (you can get this one from your Barangay Hall)
- Application form
- Two 1×1 ID pictures of the disabled person (this is for the medicine booklet in availing discounts)
- A duly signed clinical abstract and medical certificate signed by any licensed private, government clinic, or hospital-based physician
As for the application form can be downloaded here: https://pwd.doh.gov.ph/additional/files/pdf.pdf.
If you have completed the requirements already, you can go to any of the following to start your process:
- Office of the Mayor
- Office of the Barangay Captain
- National Council on Disability Affairs (NCDA) or its regional counterpart
- DSWD Offices
- Participating organizations with the memorandum of agreements with the Department of Health
Once you have submitted all your requirements to the officer-in-charge, they will start verifying your documents. And believe it or not, you can get your ID within the day. In some cases, even just minutes after all the requirements have been verified! But hey, you might be worried that you can’t personally go and process the ID yourself. An authorized representative can always go and process it, just be sure to give them an authorization letter and a copy of your valid IDs as well!
