An interesting piece from BBC via Wheelie Catholic. Too bad this is in Birmingham and not in Malaysia.

Illegal blue badges cost £500,000
Disabled parking space
Anyone caught parking illegally could face fines of up to £1,000

Drivers parking illegally in spaces for disabled motorists are costing Birmingham £500,000 in lost parking fees each year, council chiefs said.

The city council has vowed to take tough action against those caught, threatening fines of up to £1,000.

Hundreds of people had already been caught, council leaders told an investigation by BBC’s Inside Out in the West Midlands.

A blue badge can only be displayed if the permit holder is using the vehicle.

Criminal record

Transport chiefs said the most common misuse was people using badges awarded to their relatives, without the relatives being in the car.

However, people had also been caught using fraudulent badges.

Currently, wardens only have the powers to tow away the offending vehicles and to issue a fine of £140.

However, the city council said it would now start using private prosecutions to bring people to court, which would allow them to impose higher fines and leave the drivers with a criminal record.

Extra patrols will also be out on the streets catching those flouting the law.

In Malaysia, offenders mostly get away with less than a slap on the wrist. Ikano Power Center is one of the few shopping complexes that enforces clamping of vehicles that do not display the wheelchair logo parking in spaces allocated to disabled people. However, no authority is responsible for issuing official parking stickers to disabled people that is recognized throughout Malaysia. Majlis Perbandaran Subang Jaya is issuing similar stickers but only to residents of the municipality for parking spaces managed by the council which I have spoken out against. Apart from that, anyone can print the logo and display it on their car dashboard and claim the right to park in such spaces.

The public must understand that such parking spaces are there for a reason. They are extra wide to allow for sufficient space to place a wheelchair beside the vehicle for the disabled person to get in and out. I have come across drivers who conveniently parked their cars in the accessible parking spaces at Mid Valley Megamall and Tesco Ipoh when they were not even walking with a limp. By occupying these spaces, non-disabled drivers are depriving disabled drivers a place to park their vehicles. We are unable to use regular-sized parking spaces. If our cars are sandwiched between two vehicles in such parking spaces, we will not be able to get out or into the cars because the car door cannot be fully opened due to the close proximity of the vehicles.

Majlis Perbandaran Subang Jaya (MPSJ) and Subang Jaya assemblywoman Hannah Yeoh came out in The Star today talking about parking stickers for disabled people living in Subang Jaya. The initiative by MPSJ to allow disabled people with such stickers to park our car for free at parking places managed by the municipality is commendable.

Hannah was right in saying that disabled people with these stickers do not have to go through the inconvenience of paying at the parking meters. Most of the parking meters are not designed with wheelchair users who drive in mind. Moreover, these meters are often blocked by haphazardly parked vehicles or placed in spots where they are inaccessible to someone who is on a wheelchair.

Although I do not live in Subang Jaya, I do venture out to the municipality for check-ups at the Subang Jaya Medical Center and to run some other errands. I can appreciate the convenience of not having to look for parking with meters that I can reach and decided to check if I could get one of those stickers too. I called Hannah’s assistant Cherrinee Lee twice at the phone number published in the newspaper but it went unanswered. I then wrote her an email enquiring about the stickers.

Dear Cherrinee,

I read in The Star that MPSJ is issuing parking stickers for disabled
people. I do not live in Subang Jaya but frequently go there to run
errands. I am a wheelchair user holding the Kad Kenal Diri Orang Kurang
Upaya and a valid driving license. Please let me know how I can apply for
the parking stickers.

Thank you.

Regards,
Peter Tan

Cherrinee replied as follows:

Dear Peter,

The sticker is issued to all OKU living the areas under the jurisdiction of MPSJ. If you do not live in one of the areas, kindly check with your local authority. Thank you.

I assume that she missed my point in requesting for information on how I can apply for one of the parking stickers. So I wrote back to her:

Dear Cherrinee,

Thank you for your reply. Does that mean that an OKU not living in the
areas under the jurisdiction of MPSJ who parks his car at public parking
spaces managed by MPSJ have to go through the inconvenience of paying at
the parking meters?

Your clarification on this matter is appreciated.

Thank you.

Regards,
Peter

At the time of posting this entry, I have not received a reply from her yet.

Disabled people do not only move around in their respective municipalities. We do go to other municipalities to fulfill commitments and participate in social activities. Therefore, it is short-sighted of MPSJ to only make it convenient for disabled people residing in Subang Jaya while causing inconvenience to disabled people from other places. I am not asking for free parking here. All I want is the convenience to pay parking fees. The parking meters in Subang Jaya do not allow that. Will I be issued with a parking ticket if I park my car without paying because I cannot reach the parking meter?

The inaccessible public transport system in Malaysia has severely restricted the mobility of disabled people. Many of us who need to travel often have no choice but to get a car and learn to drive. It is not cheap to maintain a car especially with the rising fuel price. While MPSJ realises some of the problems faced by disabled people who drive the municipal council lacks the foresight to understand the core issues why people are disabled. People are disabled by attitudes that are bent in deciding what is best for disabled people without fully understanding what the consequences of those actions will lead to. This is evident by the restrictive conditions imposed in applying for the parking stickers.

My take on this issue is that MPSJ wants to portray the municipality as being caring. By making it convenient for some disabled people while disregarding the same problem plaguing other disabled people who visit the municipality but do not reside there, MPSJ has only displayed a half-hearted attempt in this effort. The thoughtfulness in making it convenient for disabled people who drive by issuing these parking stickers is praiseworthy but if one were to look deeper, this exercise is negated by the poor execution of the plan as it still disables people.

The Star
Tuesday September 9, 2008
Free parking for the disabled

THE disabled people living in the Subang Jaya municipality have been urged to apply for free parking stickers at the council.

They are also requested to carry their cards at all time to be eligible for their privileges.
Apply now: Yeoh showing the stickers for the disabled while Adnan looks on.

According to the Petaling welfare office some 298 disabled people in Subang Jaya are registered with it, but only 23 of them had applied for the council’s free parking stickers this year.

Subang Jaya assemblyman Hannah Yeoh said not many disabled people were aware of the stickers.

“This is not a new thing as the council introduced it in 2006,” said Yeoh during a press briefing together with the MPSJ president Datuk Adnan Md Ikshan.

“The stickers will enable the disabled to park their cars for free at public parking spaces that are managed by the MPSJ, so that they need not go through the inconvenience of paying at the parking meters.”

The stickers are not applicable at private complexes or shopping malls.

It is learnt that only seven disabled people had applied for the stickers in 2006, while in 2007, only 17 applications were received.

Yeoh said this was one of the first steps undertaken towards making things more convenient for the disabled.

Adnan added that since 1995, there was a compulsory by-law for any submissions of development order and building plan to include facilities for the disabled.

“However, it was only enforced two years ago,” he said.

Yeoh said she would be having a meeting on Nov 1 with the disabled community in Subang Jaya to be held at the MPSJ building.

“I’ll arrange for some councillors to be around during the meeting so that they can listen to the hardships faced by the disabled and work towards a solution.”

For more information on the stickers call Yeoh’s assistant Cherrinee Lee at 012-291 3358 or e-mail: cherrinee@gmail.com.

Five years - that is how long you have been gone. That is also how long I have been carrying this one guilt. I lied to you. Yes, I lied to you early morning one after Wuan had helped you change. We told you we had planned to get married two years down the road. Why two years? Because I wanted to settle the loan for the apartment that we were living in first.

Mum, in reality, we lied. I lied. We had no plans to get married then. I had roped Wuan into it because I wanted to give you a reason to go on fighting. I wanted you to have something to look forward to and not give up. I could see that sparkle in your eyes when we broke the news. At the same time, you were also worried how her parents would not accept me. Wuan assured that she would talk to them.

I had not seen you as cheerful as you were on that morning for a long time already. I could sense that you were already looking forward to that one day to see me getting married and that one day when you would get the daughter that you had always wished for. I thought I got it all figured out. I thought that you would steel your resolve and overcome the illness. I had expected you to live for many years more.

I also remember a few days after that when you were suddenly struck by hypothermia and how you had cried so desperately and repeatedly called out my name. I knew what you wanted. You thought that you would breathe your last then but you refused to go just yet because you wanted to be there to see Wuan and I get married. At the hospital, after the blood transfusion, I was relieved to see you get better. You even told those who had visited you that your son would get married. That was how happy you were despite the suffering that you were going through.

Wuan had taken good care of you. She had helped clean you and and helped you changed. She was the only person who had willingly done that for you. At the hospital when I told you that Wuan would have to go back to Kuala Lumpur the next day you covered your face with the towel and cried. Tears were rolling down your cheeks.

You were sad that Wuan had to go off. You feared that you would not be able to see her again. Wuan assured you that she would return in July and would want you to take good care of the plants that she had put outside our apartment. You assured her that you would.

You did not live long enough to see us get married. You did not even live long enough to see her again after that. I know for sure that even at the very last moment, you had wanted for Wuan to see you for one last time. You fought. You hung on. But Wuan told you to let go if you could not wait and that she would understand. She did not want you to suffer. If only you could wait a few more hours. But you had to go. Your time was up. The angels came took you away. And you left me forever.

Ma, I may have lied to you five years ago but Wuan and I really got married on October 20 last year. You now have a daughter-in-law! You now have a daughter that you had always wished for! We could feel your presence when we sealed our marital vows that afternoon. Even though you could not be there in person anymore we knew you were with us in spirit and had blessed us. Thank you. Thank you so much Ma.

Rest assured that Wuan is taking good care of me now like she had promised she would do and like how she had taken good care of you during those trying times. I pray that you will find serenity wherever you have gone to now that I am married. That was the only thing that you had wanted for me. It has finally come to fruition. Rest in peace now Ma. I am in good hands. I believe that you are too. I love you. Till we meet again.

Difficult it may be for me to tear myself away from writing on disability rights in this blog, I have decided that I have written all that needs to be written in more than 300 entries. I have nothing new to say anymore. It has come to the stage where the points that I raised are repetitions of what I have written many times before. I should really stop flogging the dead horse now.

This hiatus will do me a world of good and perhaps provide a fresh perspective on the entire issue. The work is not done yet but this workman needs to put down his tools for a while to concentrate on some personal pursuits.

I miss those days when this blog was more personal and my entries were more emotional. I hope to egg my writing on to that direction again. This also reminds me that the weekend is almost here. The one thing that I really really wish to do come Sunday is to wish Mum a “Happy Mother’s Day.”

The bed was pushed right up to the walls at the far corner of the room. There were two windows. One had louvers that opened out to a spacious air well where Mum would hang clothes that she had washed. The other opened out to the garden and had cast iron grilles and green window panes.

My eyes were still closed. The familiar sounds of birds chirping indicated that it was already mid-morning. In my mind’s eye, the view beyond the iron grilles was as familiar as the lines on my palms. Just outside the window, a fertile bush of betel thrived. Its vines gripped and snaked around the stakes that looked like rotting wood but were sturdy nonetheless. A coconut tree stood behind, spreading out its fronds in all directions and provided ample shade for everything beneath it.

I strained my ears to catch hints of activity in the garden. Mum would usually be pottering away with her adeniums, orchids and bougainvillas. She was especially proud of her green fingers and skills in cultivating beautiful looking adeniums. Many Chinese households have a pot or two of this plant for its auspicious name which meant prosperity in any of the Chinese dialects.

There were no familiar sounds other than the chirpings. I wondered where Mum was. Perhaps she had gone for her breakfast. I was happy nonetheless, knowing that I was in familiar surroundings. A sense of security and contentment enveloped me. Then reality struck. I realised was reliving a time fifteen years ago. Mum was no longer around and I was 400km from home. And I woke up from that dream feeling empty and lonely.