Twelve hours from now, I will be at Sentral catching the KLIA Express to KLIA. I have yet to pack unlike the trip to Tokyo where my luggage was ready and zipped up one week in advance. There is no sense of urgency this time. The two weeks in Tokyo had worn me out somewhat. I am still recovering but that is not the reason for my complacency.

It is always difficult to bid farewell to Wuan, what more for a journey that is going to take me away from Malaysia again. The two trainings that I am attending will last almost three weeks. That is three weeks too long to be away from Wuan. That is three weeks away from the comfort zone that I have surrounded myself with in Kuala Lumpur. That is three weeks too long in a foreign land. The fear of the unknown is definitely one of the worrying factors at the moment.

As usual, food will be a major concern. Going to new places is always a learning experience in proper dietary management. I have to be prepared for the unexpected as ingredients and cooking methods are all different. As a person living with disabilities, an extended stay in a foreign place will always come with a host of challenges. It will take a few days for me to adapt to the layout of the room and the way I manage my bathing and toileting needs. I survived two weeks of wintry Tokyo. I hope I can survive another three in Bangkok.

Nevertheless, the two trainings will provide me with sufficient knowledge and skills to implement Independent Living projects in Penang and Kuala Lumpur. Together with my peers in both places, I hope to build a better future for ourselves. We are living in a grossly imperfect world. It is high time we change things, not only for people with disabilities, but for all with similar needs as ours.

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I just witnessed Kimberly blow her diet to smithereens on a succulent burger Cajun chicken sandwich while I only had greens and unsalted fries. Life is so unfair!

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A deserted corridor to the Oedo Subway in Shinjuku.

Independent Living is a philosophy and a movement of people with disabilities who work for self-determination, equal opportunities and self-respect.

Independent Living does not mean that we want to do everything by ourselves and do not need anybody or that we want to live in isolation.

Independent Living means that we demand the same choices and control in our every-day lives that our non-disabled brothers and sisters, neighbors and friends take for granted. We want to grow up in our families, go to the neighborhood school, use the same bus as our neighbors, work in jobs that are in line with our education and interests, and start families of our own.

Since we are the best experts on our needs, we need to show the solutions we want, need to be in charge of our lives, think and speak for ourselves – just as everybody else.

To this end we must support and learn from each other, organize ourselves and work for political changes that lead to the legal protection of our human and civil rights.

We are profoundly ordinary people sharing the same need to feel included, recognized and loved.

As long as we regard our disabilities as tragedies, we will be pitied.
As long as we feel ashamed of who we are, our lives will be regarded as useless.
As long as we remain silent, we will be told by others what to do.

Adolf Ratzka, 2005

Source: Independent Living Institute

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