After I got back from Tokyo I began to see how important mobility is for me to live a fulfilling life. The ease of moving around in Tokyo and the totally accessible public transport there made me realise how restricted I was back home.

For most part of the last twenty two years, I had depended on transport from family and friends whenever I needed to go out. That was also subject to the availability of their time. On many occasions I had to forgo attending functions because no one was available to take me there.

A few months ago, I saw a friend who had more severe physical impairment than me drive a car. There and then, I knew that it was something that I can do and wanted to do. The other factor that influenced me was the hand control kit that my good friend Christine was using. It was a single push pull control that allowed her to drive with ease.

Over a period of one month after that, I went around car showrooms in Penang, looking for a car with automatic transmission that I can get in and out with ease. That was the most important criteria. Next was affordability followed by aesthetics.

Nissan Sentra was my first choice although I could hardly afford the monthly instalments. However, that was the least of my problems. I am a tall person with long limbs. The distance between the steering wheel and the seat was too close for comfort. I had difficulty getting my legs into the car after transferring to the seat from my wheelchair.

… to be continued.

Related entries:
Answer Me This
First Step Of Another Journey
Test Driving The Civic
My Dream Ride
Reclaiming My Life

I would like to think that life is a series of chapters - each unique by itself, each with a colourful story to tell, each that should be chronicled. Photographs are snippets of those chapters frozen in time, pieces of our lives immortalized. I am glad I have photographs that dates back to a time long gone, one that I can barely remember now. Those black and white images serve as windows to my past.

There are many chapters of my journey in life that I would like to share with friends, if not with myself one day in the future. They are yarns that can only be weaved with experience and coloured with the crimson of blood, brackishness of sweat and passions of tears. They cannot be relived, only remembered fondly as they slowly fade from memory.

I thought it would be wonderful if those images could be compiled into a series of photo books, one for each chapter of my life. There are over 10,000 digital images and a few hundred more prints in my collection. Some of those prints are more than half a century old. Those are priceless gifts bequeathed to me by my parents, treasures that I will cherish forever. There must be an easier way to display them other than in albums.

When I was given the opportunity to review the Pixart Pocket Photo Book, I discovered that it has the features that I wanted and more. The Pocket Photo Book is more compact than the Pixart Coffee Table Book that I reviewed earlier this year. Truth be told, I fell in love with the book the first time I laid eyes on it. I liked the fact that I could incorporate photos into the hard cover.

The print and paper quality is as good as it can get. In fact, some of the more expensive coffee table books in my collection do not even use such thick paper stock. Smudges on the cover can easily be removed with a piece of soft cloth. For someone like me who leaves stuff all over the place, this is a plus point.

All said, the Pixart Pocket Photo Book is not only perfect a gift for loved ones or friends. It is compact enough to take along when you make that 6,000 km journey to meet the grandaunt in Melbourne that you have not met in two decades. At RM50 for 12 double-sided pages, it is not exactly a steal but can you put a price to precious memories?

For more information, check out Pixart.

This was sent to Letters to the Editor of The Star on September 28, 2006 but was not published.

Malaysia is heading for exciting times as the nation celebrates its 50th anniversary of independence next year. Around that time, we will have a cosmonaut in the International Space Station (ISS) as reported in “Russia-bound astronaut candidates inspired after meeting Abdullah” (The Star, September 27, 2006). This puts another feather in the cap to mark our achievements as a maturing nation.

While we wait in anticipation for the day one of our own steps into the ISS orbiting 350 km above us, it is ironic that a group of people back home here in on Earth cannot move around conveniently, even for distances a fraction of that to the ISS.

In the haste to improve the public transport system in the Klang Valley, disabled persons are once again left out in the planning. None of the new Rapid KL buses are accessible to wheelchair users. Even senior citizens have problems boarding the buses because of the unfriendly height of its steps.

Disabled persons are disillusioned by empty promises. There was a protest in 1994 when it was apparent that STAR LRT was not accessible. 12 years later, wheelchair users still cannot use the trains because there are no elevators up to the platform, or use any public transport for that matter.

We are beginning to wonder if our needs will ever be addressed. Do we need to resort to staging demonstrations and protests again to get our voices heard? For what it is worth, it is an uphill battle for us all the way and all the time.

What does it take for the government to realise that accessible public transport is an urgent need without which we cannot do much. We have to miss out on education and work opportunities. This makes us even more disadvantaged.

The often heard excuse of not including accessible facilities is the cost factor. How can we put a price on the rights of fellow citizens? Public transport is for all, irrespective of physical condition. The needs of one group must not be at the expense of another. However, in the case of public transport, it looks like the needs of disabled persons are at the lowest of priorities.

As we anxiously wait for the first Malaysian to go into outer space, I urge to government to seriously look into the plight of disabled persons who cannot even get out from their homes. We should not look that far out when we have not even tackled challenges that are right in front of us.

We Are Not Patients

The general perception of wheelchair users is that we are people with chronic medical conditions. In short, we are considered patients. That is furthest away from the truth. Wheelchair users are people who employ a different mode of ambulation. Instead of using our legs to walk, we move around on wheelchairs. That is the only stark difference.

There have been cases where wheelchair users accompanying friends to hospitals were misconstrued by the nurses and doctors as people seeking medical attention. Likewise, I have experienced the same dilemma when accompanying my late mother to the hospital for her checkups.

While this is not a major issue, it is discomforting that society at large still sees wheelchair users with such mindsets. At a recent meeting regarding accessible public transport, there were suggestions to request for bus routes to specifically serve institutions for disabled persons and hospitals.

That is another misconception. Not all disabled persons live in institutions. Many live in the community. That is how it should be. At the same time, accessible buses should not only serve routes to hospitals. That should not be a priority but included as one of the routes.

True, many need to go to hospitals for regular checkups but that is not a major activity for disabled persons. It is more important that we are able to commute to work or school conveniently. Additionally, we also like to enjoy leisure activities such as trips to the malls or parks.

There are still a lot of misconceptions regarding disabilities and disabled persons. It is not totally the fault of society. Disabled persons themselves are the best advocate of change in such matters. By living in the community, we can gradually eliminate fallacies, build bridges and create an inclusive society where everyone is treated with respect and dignity.

Fat4 posed an interesting question regarding mega-churches. And I have to agree with his observations. Structures do not make churches. Rather, it is the individuals who live their lives of faith outside the perimeter of the structure that forms the collective we call the Church. I am not in favour of constructing magnificent places of worship in the name of God. If we need to cling on to such shallow show of grandiose to reaffirm our faith, then we truly cannot see the forest for the trees.

What would God say about the tens of millions spent to build mega-churches when an unpretentious church could be built at a fraction of the cost and the remaining amount disbursed to people who are in real need of financial assistance? What would God say when we run his Church as a business entity and every time that we go to church to worship and be in communion with Him our wallets are being assaulted instead?

Lest we forget, Jesus was born in a manger. He moved around among the masses, lived where they lived and ate what they ate. He was executed in a most undignified manner. There is much humility to be learnt from all that. The Church is out there in the real world. We build it through living a Christ-like life. Every time we put our hearts into helping our fellow humans with sincerity, we are indeed building the most glorious edifice in His name, one that time can never erase.