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Diasbled give thumbs up for first blind senator

VARIOUS quarters gave the thumbs up to Malaysian Asso ciation for the Blind president Professor Datuk Dr Ismail Md Salleh’s recent appointment as a Dewan Negara senator.
Ismail became the first blind person in the nation’s history to be appointed senator.

However, some also indicated that they would love to have someone who is more in touch with those at the grassroots levels.

Kuala Lumpur Centre for Inde pendent Living peer counsellor Peter Tan greeted the news with enthusiasm, stating that it marked an important move by the government, as there has not been a representative for the dis abled community in Parliament for a long time.

Despite calling the move “the first step towards change,” Tan expressed his wish to see someone elected who was more in touch with the grassroots level to better represent the disabled community in the country.

“With due respect to Ismail, I would have preferred a person with mobility impairment, spe cifically a wheelchair user, to rep resent disabled people in the Par liament. As I see it, people with mobility impairments in Malaysia are facing a host of problems that have gone unresolved for dec ades,” Tan said.

He said, Malaysia lacks an ad equate support system which al lows those who are severely dis abled to look after themselves and continue to be marginalised.

Tan added that these are the things which Ismail needs to look into as senator.

“The appointment of a disabled person as senator is a positive move by the government. I sin cerely hope that Ismail will make an effort to truly understand is sues faced by the disabled com munity.

“While issues like education, employment and accessibility are important, Ismail must never forget the plight of people with severe disabilities who are often forgotten by society and even disability advocates. These are the people whom Ismail must represent in the Parliament,” Tan said.

Malaysian Animal-Assisted Therapy for the Disabled and Elderly Association president Anthony Thanasayan echoed Tan’s views in having a senator who was more actively involved with the grassroots.

“We have been waiting for more than 20 years for a rep resentative to be appointed to Dewan Negara and Ismail’s ap pointment came as good news,”

Thanasayan exclaimed, in which he added, “let’s face it, only a disabled person would under stand what another disabled person is going through.”

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Scott Rains alerted me to the following news report. It seems that the act of discrimination against wheelchair users is not limited to Malaysia’s AirAsia. The Hindustan Times news titled Airline Displays Callousness in December 19 reported that Sanjiv Sachdeva was asked to sign a bond to absolve Jetlite from all responsibilities should anything happen to him in a flight on December 16. Jetlite is an India-based low cost carrier. Sanjiv has filed a complaint with the Directorate General of Aviation and the Commissioner of Diabilities.

In the same newspaper report, another wheelchair user Mahesh Chandrashekar was subjected to similar conditions by Deccan, India’s first low-fare airline. Mahesh was reported to have said that the language used in the indemnity form sounded prejudiced, embarrassing, derogatory and appeared as if a favour has been doled out to a passenger with disability who is travelling on a fully-paid ticket.

Indemnity forms are worded in such a way that the person who signed it absolves the airline from all blame should anything happen. Too bad if that person dies or is injured as a result of flying with the airline. To add insult to injury, if the airline has to incur additional costs because of that person, the said person has to bear all that. Tell me, where is justice in that? Heads I lose. Tails also I lose. Mana boleh? Unbelievable? Go read the indemnity form that Airsia made me sign.

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N E W S

Parliament
Wednesday December 19, 2007

A realistic bill, says Shahrizat

PROVISIONS included in the Persons With Disability Bill 2007 were those which could be implemented for the disabled, Women, Family and Community Development Minister Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil said.

“We do not want to have a bill which is nice to look at but can’t be implemented. This is a realistic bill for the disabled.”

She was replying to points raised during the debate on the bill.

Shahrizat said the Persons With Disability Bill 2007, which was later passed, was the ministry’s way to fulfil its pledge to the disabled.

She said the bill took into account the needs in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Disabled and was also in line with the national policies and action plan to ensure that the disabled lived freely and had equal rights.

She said Malaysia would sign the convention in February.

On the issue of compulsory registration of the disabled, Shahrizat said making it compulsory would be a violation of their rights.

“We respect those who do not wish to register. Perhaps one day they will be comfortable with it and then come forward to do so,” she said in encouraging them to do so.

Up to June, a total of 209,208 persons with disability were registered with the Welfare Department.

On punishment for those who breached a disabled person’s rights, Shahrizat said the bill was not punitive in nature.

“There are by-laws which we can use to take action for non-compliance,” she said.

On whether mentally ill patients were included in the bill, Shahrizat said the ministry was still in discussion with Health Ministry over the matter.

Earlier when debating the bill, Wong Nai Chee (BN – Kota Melaka) expressed disappointment that an anti-discrimination law against the disabled was not included.

“I suggest having another bill for the disabled, namely an anti-discrimination bill to protect their rights,” he said.

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