Twelve representatives from the various NGOs working together under the Barrier-Free Environment and Accessible Transport Group (BEAT) held a dialogue with Rapid KL today at the public transport operator’s head office at Subang. Rapid KL was represented by Mohd. Ali Mohd. Nor, Chief Operating Officer (Bus Operations), and Katherine Chew, Senior Manager, Corporate Communications Division. This is the follow-up to the dialogue with Rein Westra, Rapid KL’s Chief Executive Officer, on October 20, 2006 at KL Sentral.

In his presentation, Ali gave us a rundown of the Rapid KL operations in the Klang Valley. Through that, we got an idea of how the accessible buses that were promised to be put on the road soon would fit into the big picture. Unfortunately, the outcome of the dialogue was less desirable than expected. At the moment, I am not at liberty to reveal BEAT’s stand against some of the proposals put forward by Rapid KL, not at least until our meeting with Dato’ Seri Chan Kong Choy, Minister of Transport, at Putrajaya on Monday.

Disabled Peoples’ International is a network of national organizations or assemblies of disabled people, established to promote human rights of disabled people through full participation, equalization of opportunity and development.

On February 27, I received an email from Shoji Nakanishi inviting Independent Living resource persons from the Asia-Pacific region to submit abstracts for presentation at the 7th DPI World Assembly in Korea from September 5-8 2007. I submitted one from the listed topics titled “The IL Movement in Developing Countries.” Going through the list of recommended international speakers, I discovered that I am the only speaker invited from Malaysia. This is indeed an honour as I consider myself still very new to the disability movement. I am keeping my fingers crossed that the abstract will be approved. Attending an international conference like this will give me much needed exposure and provide networking opportunities with leaders of the disability movement from other countries. My only concern is the low-protein diet that I am keeping. Ah well, I will cross the bridge when I come to it.

Earthquake 2005 Revisited

So, there was another earthquake in Sumatra and we felt the tremors here in Malaysia. Are we ready to deal with large-scale evacuation and rescue should the tremors compromise the structural integrity of the skyscrapers here? Many commercial high-rise buildings hold regular emergency evacuation drills to prepare for such eventualities.

If one can walk, evacuating from these buildings is a matter of walking down the many flights of steps and to safety. What about those with mobility impairments? Using the elevators during a fire or after an earthquake is not recommended. Using the stairs is an impossibility. Where does that leave them? Do we have rescue personnel who are well-equipped and trained to handle such situations?

After the earthquake in March 29, 2005, I wrote a letter to Dato’ Seri Shahrizat and copied it to the relevant ministries and departments. Dato’ Shahrizat directed the Jabatan Kebajikan Masyarakat Malaysia to reply to the letter. The Chief Minister of Penang’s Office also sent a reply. And the matter ended there. I had expected the Kementerian Perumahan dan Kerajaan Tempatan and the Jabatan Bomba dan Penyelamat to look into my plight. If there really is no evacuation plan for people with mobility impairments one should be drawn up. Until now, I have not heard from them regarding this.

So, there was an earthquake yesterday. It reminded me of the tremors I experienced back in 2005. I was so frightened. I felt extremely helpless. My apartment was shaking very badly. I thought it would collapse at any moment. I could not evacuate. I thought about the plight of thousands of other people with mobility impairments who were staying in high-rise. Are we any better off now than we were in 2005? I guess not. We are stuck in our homes with no way out. Apa macam Malaysia?

Photo by Wuan.

Those were the props for the theoretical part of the Kursus Teori dan Amali (JPJL2B) that I attended last Saturday at Safety Driving Centre. Vijay, the instructor, went through with us the components found in a car, a little on defensive driving and some aspects of the driving tests. I need to attend another three hours of practical course before I am issued with the Learner Driver’s License.

Looking At A Gift Horse In The Mouth

Would you give someone a pair of shoes that are two sizes to big for her feet? Those ill fitting shoes could cause a host of problems from calluses, corns and blisters to more severe problems of the knees and ankles. Most of us would have the good sense to ensure that those shoes that we are giving are of the right size and for the purpose it was intended.

Likewise, there are wheelchairs and there are wheelchairs. Every now and then, we read in the newspapers about major corporations donating wheelchairs to those in need of one. The recipients are mostly people who are living with permanent mobility impairments. The usual scenarios are that these benefactors give away as many wheelchairs as their budget allowed in order to portray copious amounts of generosity being passed around. Unfortunately, most times, those wheelchairs are barely suitable for the recipients’ use.

Humans come in all shapes and sizes. Like shoes, a wheelchair must be of the correct size to serve the user well. An ill fitting wheelchair that is either too big or too small will cause postural problems and pressures sores, among others. Pressure sores on the buttocks and ball of the feet are expensive to manage and take a long time to heal. Postural problems, if left unattended, will result in problems such as curvature of the spine and lumbar pain.

A good fitting wheelchair is one where the user fits snugly into it much like sitting in a bucket seat. The width and length of the wheelchair seat and backrest are customised to the user’s body to ensure that pressure points are evenly distributed and a good posture is maintained. There are many other aspects to look into to fine tune the wheelchair to make it as functional as possible to suit the lifestyle of the user.

Customised wheelchairs do not come cheap and are still luxury items here. Comparatively, a basic manual wheelchair costs RM300 while a customised wheelchair costs RM6,000 upwards. That does not include a good wheelchair cushion that may add another RM1,000 or so to the cost. Given a choice, what would most well-meaning donors do? Help twenty people or just one? The solution may be obvious but the consequences of a misguided decision could be far-reaching and unpleasant.

Giving away twenty ill fitting wheelchairs could inadvertently be damning those twenty recipients to a potentially agonising journey of pressure sores and postural problems that is going to cost many times more to treat than the price of all twenty wheelchairs combined. How best can this dilemma be worked out? Frankly, I do not have all the answers for this matter.

On one hand I would like to see as many people as possible getting the assistance that they need but on the other hand I worry about the outcome of such generosity. My take is that in the long run, it would be cheaper and more logical to provide one suitable but expensive wheelchair to one person rather than treating twenty people for problems arising from using ill fitting wheelchairs. What about the other nineteen who may be in genuine need of wheelchairs too? I was made aware that some countries take care of such needs by allocating funds for customised wheelchairs for those who require it. Are we ready for such a system in Malaysia?