my rating on civic consciousness in Malaysia is 6/10

Hmmm… instead of showing small examples of Malaysians’ negativity, why don’t we focus on the big picture?

like what cause Malaysians to have negative attitude in general and how to improve the mentality of Malaysians.

a blog reader
-Life Feel

I apologise for being one of the culprits who misused the disabled toilets before for three times I think .

It never occurs to me that such abuse could cause such inconveniences to the disabled.
I assure you it won’t happen again.

Take care and God bless you.

CK

the collector has to see that the person requesting use of disabled toilet is really disabled before releasing the key.

Please let me know what you think of the following situation. I often take my kids to MacDonalds here in Australia. It is not uncommon to find only 2 toilets in the Female toilets, one normal toilet and one disabled toilet, side by side.

If there were to be a queue waiting for the one normal toilet, but the disabled toilet is available, should these women continue to queue and not use the disabled toilet?

We need to remind ourselves that the facilities for disabled people are not luxuries, but basic needs. Be it lifts, accessible ramps, refuge areas at fire staircase lobbies, accessible carpark, audio announcements, loop induction aid for hearing, and all sorts of services are designed with the correct sizes and features, so that disabled people can manage like everyone else in an environment that was created to make it difficult for disabled people to conduct their lives meaningfully and with dignity.

I know of wheelchair users who could easily get kidney infections if they delay in using the toilets, or elderly people whose arthritis will act up so badly and painfully if they could not get a seat on the bus immediately.

Everyone should fight for the rights of the disabled people to access all services and goods in this country equally like everyone else.

Remember, it is not the person, but the environment that is disabling, be it physical or social.

“…Over the past 20 years, a competing view known as the social model of disability has come to the fore. In this model, disability is seen more as a social construction than a medical reality. An individual may be impaired by a condition that requires daily living adaptations, but the bulk of his problem - his disability - can be found in the attitudinal and physical barriers erected by society…” http://encyclopedia.laborlawtalk.com/Disability

CK,
It is good that you have realised that. No apologies needed. God bless you.

fish fish,
Looks like the government’s courtesy campaigns and those Pendidikan Moral or whatever they call that are not effective. How much more will it take to make people aware of such problems?

lynnee,
Suria KLCC and Berjaya Times Square are doing that now. That is the reason why their disabled toilets are clean.

Tinkerbell,
Let me tell you what happened at Ikea when I was there the other day. There was a queue at the Gents but none of them thought of using the disabled toilet that was located inside the Gents. When I went in, they made way for me to enter the toilet with the disabled sign. You tell me what you think about that.

Marita,
We still have a long way to go. Disabled friends from developed nations tell me that we are not forceful enough in demanding for our rights. I can see a long struggle ahead with some people insisting to be accorded the same rights because of their “temporary” disabilities.

LecturerUM,
I hope after this, some who are ignorant will understand what we have to go through every time we go out. I always need to plan ahead, checking out if those places that I need to go have amenities to cater to my needs only to discover that I have to fight with able-bodied people to use those facilities. Thank you again for explaining why only the disabled people are entitled to use them.

(1) LecturerUM’s point about (some) disabled people needing immediate relief from a full bladder or face medical consequences. I know I’ve overlooked this.

(2) The water torture i.e. it’s not so bad if you have to wait once or twice, but it becomes a serious problem if it happens all the time.

(3) High usage ==> dirty toilet. Muck from dirty floor ends up on disabled’s fingers. This too is overlooked.

What an interesting discussion. It’s so good to be able to see things from hitherto unknown angles.

About Ikea, Peter, I think the guy who first formed that queue set the momentum for the rest. As it turned out, they did the right thing.

I am glad that you are able to experience clean toilet. It is certainly unfortunate that it has to be locked up so that it can be properly used.

There is a lot of education needed to educate people on good civic-mindedness.

I can only guess based on personal observation is that the current climate of our society and individual interaction is that of me, myself and I mentality, where the strongest survived. I do not mean to provoke anything here and I myself is also constantly open to being educate on good civic-mindedness, to remind myself there are many persons who lack personal freedom normal person enjoy and take for granted.

Nevertheless, I enjoy reading your thoughts and look forward to it.