Dr. Jiro Iguchi facilitating the Training for Participatory Workshops.

There are trainings and there are trainings. But there are also trainings with a difference. The Training for Participatory Workshops organised by the Jabatan Kebajikan Masyarakat Malaysia and Japan International Cooperation Agency was one such exception. It was held at Majlis Kebajikan dan Pembangunan Masyarakat Kebangsaan Malaysia (MAKPEM) at Bandar Baru Sentul and was facilitated by Dr. Jiro Iguchi who has vast experience in this field.

Among the more interesting aspect of the training was setting the agenda, identifying stakeholders, recognising the categories and analysing the challenges and problems of particular issues and subjects. In this case, the ten participants from various NGOs unanimously agreed that advocacy on the rights of disabled persons was an issue that needed immediate attention and worked on it according to the structure demonstrated by Dr. Iguchi. Dr. Kenji Kuno, JICA Advisor and Expert, was the key person organising this two-day training which will end tomorrow.

Of Idiot Box And Thinking Out Of The Box

To disabled persons, two of the more useful inventions of the last century were the personal computer (PC) and the Internet. Before the advent of these two technologies, those with severe physical impairments mostly spend time watching television, listening to the radio or idle their time away. Reading a book or the newspaper is a chore because they needed someone to turn the pages for them.

The PC and the Internet changed all that. Assistive and adaptive technologies such as voice recognition software, head-mounted pointing devices and mouth-sticks allowed them to use a word processor, browse the Internet and communicate. For someone who does not have control of his limbs and bodily functions and needs to depend on others most of the time, being able to be in control in this sense is very liberating and empowering.

As the built environment and public transport do not favour people with severe impairments, they have no choice but be grounded at home, going out rarely for medical appointments and other important occasions. Humans being social creatures desire to reach out and interact with other humans. The advent of Internet Messaging (IM) has tremendously improved their social life, although not in traditional ways.

Yahoo Messenger, Windows Live Messenger and Skype are blessings for them. Now, they not only can communicate with friends locally but are able to get acquainted with strangers from the other side of the globe. This has opened up a world of endless possibilities for socialising, networking and other fruitful opportunities, education being one of them.

Nevertheless, these technologies can never replace the inherent need to do certain things the conventional way. There is a real need to live and intermingle with people in the community that they live in. They can only get to accomplish this if there is a concerted effort to remove the barriers that are preventing them from getting out from their homes. All it takes is a change of mindset from doing things in the commonly accepted ways to one that takes into account the various needs of different people. All that is needed is for planners to think out of the box. Unfortunately, there are very few of them who can do that here in Malaysia.

The Charter 2000 - Aliran National Roundtable on Internet Media was held at the Vistana Hotel in Penang on December 9, 2006. I went back to Penang especially for that. The 24 participants talked about the various issues and challenges faced by bloggers and NGOs using the Internet media to push forward their respective agendas. This event was supported by the Southeast Asian Press Alliance (SEAPA). The five bloggers were Jude Manickam, Tony Pua, Nik Nazmi, Lucia Lai and I.

The other participants were:
Mustafa Kamal Anuar, Anil Netto, Francis Loh and Angeline Loh from Aliran
Sandra Smeltzer and Douglas Keddy from the University of Western Ontaria
Jennifer Mourin from Pesticide Action Network Asia & the Pacific
Marie Tan and Jayamalar Samuel from Women’s Centre for Change Penang
Susan Lim from Penang Office for Human Development
Tan Lee Ooi from FreeMedia
Khoo Gaik Cheng
Sonia Randhawa from Centre for Independent Journalism
Chang Teck Peng and Lim Hong Siang from Merdeka Review
Wong Meng Chuo from Rengah Sarawak
Md. Roslan Hashim from Pertubuhan Jamaah Islah Malaysia
S. Ravindran from MTUC
Shazwan Mustafa Kamal who came as a volunteer

There was a consensus to bring in more bloggers and Internet media practitioners for a wider representation in similar roundtables organised in the future. Although one day was too brief to cover the many related issues, a lot was discussed. Hopefully this will be the starting point to create a better awareness on how the Internet can be used effectively to provide an alternative source of news not covered by the mainstream media.

Lucia also blogged about this in internet media (round-table discussion)

Back in Penang but only for two days to attend the Charter 2000-Aliran National Roundtable Discussion on “Internet Media in Malaysia: Problems and Prospects” on Saturday. Wuan accompanied me to Kuala Lumpur City Air Terminal at Sentral. Met Jaime at the Malaysia Airlines check-in counter. She was going to Australia for work. While waiting for my flight at KLIA, Sandy called out to me. It was a coincidence that Sandy, her companion Doug (I hope I got your name correct) and I were taking the same flight to Penang and will be attending the same rountable discussion tomorrow.

Bryan and Reallybites picked me up from the airport for lunch at a Japanese restaurant in Sungai Nibong. After that, we proceeded to Queens Bay Mall for some window shopping. Although most of the shops were not opened for business yet, it was crowded. Bryan left us at around 4pm. Reallybites and I hung around at the mall to have dinner with KS who joined us after work. He is one lucky fellow who gets to travel all over the world for work. He even gave me a brief lecture on fabrics and the cost of making a long sleeved shirt. Even at 70% discount, there is still a profit to be made.

Looks like today is a day of unexpected meetings and rekindling of friendships. I got to meet people I do not ususally get to meet routinely. This is one of those more fruitful days. A little hectic, a little tiring, but worth all the effort and time. I certainly would not mind more of such days. Friends are one of the joys of life. Mine definitely are. The time spent with them are the gems that fill up my treasure chest with precious memories.

Materials for the ReAL Roundtable.

The Kementerian Pembangunan Wanita, Keluarga dan Masyarakat organised Real Access for Life (ReAL) Roundtable (Persidangan Akses untuk Kehidupan Sebenar) to look into the problems of accessibility that disabled persons have been facing at the Berjaya Times Square Hotel and Convention Centre. The event held in conjunction with International Day of Disabled Persons also involved the Kementerian Perumahan dan Kerajaan Tempatan, Jabatan Kebajikan Masyarakat Malaysia and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).

The topics covered and speakers for the morning sessions were:

Building a Disabled Friendly Townscape: The Malaysian Experience by Puan Norliza Hashim, President of the Malaysian Institute of Planners

Voluntary Corporate Compliance by Puan Khalilah Talha, General Manager of Corporate Communications, PLUS

Accessibility to Public Amenities: A Right of Persons with Disabilities by Professor Yutaka Takamine, University of the Ryukus, Japan

The speakers all provided good insights into the design, implementation and the importance of respecting the rights to accessible public amenities for disabled persons and those with mobility-impairments. Generally there is awareness among planners and corporations regarding such issues but the implementation of and compliance to existing legislation in such matters is severely lacking.

Dato’ Seri Shahrizat and Professor Yutaka and participants of the ReAL Roundtable.

However, the most embarrassing revelation came from Professor Yutaka when he revealed that Malaysia Airlines compelled him to sign an indemnity form before allowing him to fly to Malaysia. The good Professor only signed because he wanted to come and make his presentation as invited by the Ministry. He intimated that he will write a complaint letter to Malaysia Airlines regarding this matter.

Professor Yutaka and I.

Lets hope Dato’ Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil who was present and got further details from Professor Yutaka will take this issue up with Malaysia Airlines. This blatant act of discrimination against disabled persons is not acceptable, more so when the person is a guest of the government and a distinguished scholar affiliated with UNESCAP and other prestigious international organisations.

Later in the morning, four advocates on disability talked about challenges faced by specific disabled communities. The speakers were Dr. Wong Huey Siew from Malaysian Association for the Blind, Encik Mohamad Sazali Shaari, President of Malaysian Federation of the Deaf, Ms. Teoh Hooi Ting from United Voices and Ms. Bathmavathi Krishnan, Executive Committee of Society of the Orthopaedically Handicapped Malaysia (POCAM). The presentation was moderated by Cik Ras Adiba Radzi and Puan Khairiah Talha.

(L - r) Ras Adiba Radzi, Bathmavathi Krishnan, Teoh Hooi Ting, Dr. Wong Huey Siew, Khairiah Talha and Mohamad Sazali Shaari.

The strongest message yet came from Bathmavathi who talked at length about Malaysia having First World facilities but when it comes to accessible facilities, we are still very much stuck in a Third World quagmire. Most glaring were the buses used to transport athletes for the recently concluded Fespic Games. None met the minimum standards on accessibility for wheelchair users. Bathmavathi’s message was simple. Bring accessible facilities up to speed with the development of the nation. Disabled persons do not want to be left behind.

Lunch was a rushed affair as the programme for the morning extended way beyond the schedule. We also needed to be in time for the satellite window for the teleconference from Tokyo. JICA had arranged for Professor Satoshi Kose to speak on the topic titled From Barrier Free to Universal Design: Including Everyone in the Society. That was an interesting presentation because many of the concepts expounded are still alien to Malaysia. Professor Satoshi is with the Department of Architecture, Faculty of Design of Shizuoka University of Art and Culture in Japan.

Professor Satoshi speaking about universal design live from Tokyo via teleconferencing.

Mr. Joseph Kwan from UDA Consultants Ltd. Hong Kong then ran a very visually interesting presentation on accessible public transport in other countries. I missed the first half of his presentation as I had to perform my scheduled intermittent catheterisation. Nevertheless, seeing the effort other countries have made to provide accessibility to all made many of us wonder why Malaysia’s largest and most modern fleet of public buses still do not see the urgent need to emulate and implement such standards and why local authorities have never seriously enforced the Uniform Building By-Law that has been in existence since the 1990s.

The presentations culminated in a breakout session where participants were encouraged to provide feedback on how the issue of accessibility can be addressed by the government. A white paper will be drawn up and presented to the highest level of the government. The breakout sessions consisted of five topics: Social Barriers, Physical Barriers, Economic Barriers, Issues in Implementation, and Enforcement, Legislation and Standards.

My opinion is that it is impossible to come out with a solution within one hour during the breakout sessions. If it was that easy, disabled persons would not have held a rally again recently to demand for accessible public transport twelve years after a similar rally was organised to demand access for wheelchair users to ride the STAR LRT. Nonetheless, I am keeping my fingers crossed that something concrete will come out of this. To disabled persons, the time to listen to empty talks from the government is over. We want action and we want it now.