There are two things that disable people. One is attitude, the other is the environment. Of the two, attitude is the most difficult to change yet is the easiest to do. All that is needed is to understand the Social Model of Disability. Nevertheless, people still have the perception that people are disabled by their conditions and therefore are to be blamed if they cannot use public amenities. Furthermore, facilities suited for use by disabled people are often delegated to the lowest of priorities because disabled people are not considered productive citizens worthy of the money spent.

Is it that difficult to see that what is good for disabled people is good for everyone else? Countries like Japan and Australia have already adopted inclusive policies that require that public amenities are accessible to everyone. It was in Tokyo that I experienced real liberation as a wheelchair user for the first time. If that can be done in Japan why then can it not be done here in the spirit of Malaysia Boleh?

Apparently people who are in position to change things are not interested to make Malaysia an inclusive society. They prefer to cling on to their prejudices and cocoon themselves in their own comfort zone. They refuse to lift a finger to improve the situation but prefer to turn a blind eye to the fact that disabled people are in Malaysia are so marginalized that many are living in conditions of abject poverty.

Now I begin to understand why the advocacy for accessible public transport in Malaysia has not moved forward as fast as I had expected. It was naive on my part to think that the situation can be easily resolved by writing a few letters to the authorities concerned and meet with ministers to lay out the problems to them.

I discovered this sad fact at the National Summit on Urban Public Transport organised by Asian Strategy and Leadership Institute (ASLI) at The Gardens Hotel and Residences last Thursday. Datuk Ong Tee Keat officiated the summit. In his keynote address he said the following among others:

It is also essential to highlight, that a public transport is not an exclusive domain of sections of the population, but must cater for all. The disabled community is an integral part of our communities and I do urge that their needs must be integrated in our public transport planning.

Although I have an inherent mistrust of politicians delivering well crafted speech and not fulfilling it afterwards, I am going to give Datuk Ong the benefit of the doubt and welcome this statement. I believe that he is serious in resolving the transportation woes of disabled people. The only ironic thing about this entire matter is that the Minister of Transport does not have full control over the regulation of public transport in Malaysia. It is being jointly regulated by thirteen agencies with some having overlapping jurisdiction over another.

My main purpose in attending the summit was to see what is being done to make public transport accessible. When Syarikat Prasarana Negara Berhad (Prasarana) Chief Executive Officer Shaipudin Shah Harun spoke during the panel session titled “Towards an Efficient Urban Public Transport System,” I was all ears.

Prasarana is the asset owner of RapidKL. It owns all the RapidKL and Rapid Penang buses, Kelana Jaya Line and Ampang Line light rail transit networks, KL Monorail and the Langkawi Cable Car System. Prasarana in turn is a wholly-owned government company under the Ministry of Finance Inc.

Photo by Wuan.

At the Q&A session afterwards, I asked the following:

When we talk about public transport, why are disabled people left out of the equation? Is Prasarana going to buy non-step buses from now on or continue to put buses with steps on the road?

Below are Shaipudin’s response transcribed from the video recorded by fellow participant Naziaty Yaacob:

The issues of building structures. What good would it do for you to be able to get up a bus which is low floor and then you have pavements which are uneven with manholes uncovered.

The country as a whole must have what you call a real policy on the issue of the OKU.

We try our best. As for the same question, for all the new facilities that we are putting up, the trains and all that, for the new lines, the extension lines, all the needs of the OKUs are being registered and will be taken for but as I said there will not be the end to the answer to your problem.

What happens when you leave our stations? Are the streets friendly enough for you?

This is not a Prasarana question question alone.

The problem here is not only faced by OKU. Even the able people too are having problems. How many walkways do you see along the streets which enable us to walk conveniently?

Photo by Wuan.

My question to Prasarana was actually very straightforward. A simple “yes” or “no” would have sufficed. Instead, Shaipudin gave a discourse on the inaccessible built environment. I do not disagree with his view that disabled people may face problems after getting off the buses. Nevertheless, Prasarana should just concentrate in ensuring that all its buses, trains and terminals are fully accessible. The municipals councils are the parties responsible for the built environment other than those owned by Prasarana and that matter should be left to these municipalities to resolve. If Prasarana is going to wait until the built environment is fully accessible before they change the entire fleet to non-step buses, disabled people may have to wait another ten years or even longer to be able to use public transport.

Shaipudin also argued that non-disabled people are also facing problems with the built environment. It is true that non-disabled people encounter such problems too but that does not usually prevent them from getting to the bus stop to catch a bus. Additionally, it does not take long to add ramps to existing walkways. The 500 meter stretch in Pandan Perdana including the bus stop, although not built to specifications, was made accessible in a period of less than one month.

Non-step bus with the ramp deployed in Seoul, Korea.

Truth be told, I am ignorant of the lifepspan of RapidKL’s buses. Lets guesstimate that these buses are phased out after ten years of service. If the municipal councils are able to make most of the bus stops accessible within two years from now, that means disabled people have to wait at least five more years for the current buses to be replaced with non-step ones. And if Prasarana continues to put new buses with steps into service, how long more before disabled people can ride in public buses?

Prasarana as the asset owners with its hardware paid for from the people’s money via the Ministry of Finance Inc. must ensure that all buses purchased in the future must be accessible to everyone. Non-step buses are most suitable for this purpose. Such buses are widely available and used in major cities in the Asia Pacific countries like Japan, Korea and Australia. These buses are not only convenient for wheelchair users but for senior citizens and people with mobility impairments, pregnant women and children. What is good for disabled people is good for everyone else.

Boarding the non-step bus in my wheelchair in Seoul, Korea.

What I cannot understand is Prasarana’s reluctance in making all their new buses accessible. Is Prasarana going to lose anything by including the transportation needs of disabled people? Everybody benefits if these buses are accessible. The Minister of Transport has already acknowledged that disabled people are an integral of the community. Why then is Prasarana continuing with its disabling policy that marginalizes disabled people?

Without access to public transport, disabled people are unable to achieve a reasonable quality of life. We are unable to go to schools and go to work. We are unable to participate in social, cultural, religious and political activities. Prasarana’s is attitude in this issue is most baffling. It has failed in the task entrusted to it by the government to provide the assets to RapidKL and Rapid Penang to run a public transport service to benefit everyone.

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.

The Star reported that Datin Seri Jeanne Abdullah, the wife of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, was touched by the disabled-friendly facilities she saw at the Paralympic Games Village when she was in Beijing to visit Malaysian Paralympians. Datuk Seri Jeanne is urging developers to design more disabled friendly housing projects, saying that the nation should do more for disabled people.

I hope this message will not fall on deaf ears. Disabled people in Malaysia have been facing such issues far longer than the 24 years that I have been on a wheelchair. Perhaps Datin Seri Jeanne is not aware that Malaysia already has the Uniform Building By-Law 34A (UBBL 34A) that requires all public buildings to comply with Malaysian Standard MS 1183 and MS 1184. MS 1184 is the Code of Practice on Access for Disabled People to Public Buildings. It specifies how accessible facilities inside buildings should be built. The UBBL 34A has been gazetted by the various states in the mid-1990s.

Sadly, this provision in the UBBL 34A is seldom enforced by local governments. Public buildings are still allowed to be constructed without fulfilling the said requirements. To exacerbate matters, there is no law to ensure that external built environment such as pedestrian walkways are accessible to disabled people although a code of practice in the form of Malaysian Standard MS 1331 has been drawn up for such purposes.

The newspaper report also stated that Datuk Seri Jeanne hoped schools will encourage children to help disabled people if they come across one and that we should change our mindset to be more caring. Although it is heartening to note that she is trying to inculcate a caring attitude in students, it would have been better if we can build a society where disabled people can live independently instead of depending on such ad hoc forms of assistance. At the moment, disabled people, especially those with severe impairments, are unable to practice independent living because of the prejudices against disabled people.

Society still hold on to the view that disabled people cannot do things for themselves and therefore cannot live independently. There is this notion that disabled people need charity to survive. These are all fallacies. People are disabled by the environment and attitudes, and not by their conditions. It is how we build things and how we perceive disabled people that is disabling. Malaysia has to move from the antiquated Medical Model of Disability to the Social Model of Disability in order for disabled people to benefit from a level playing field in society.

Medical Model of Disability sees the disabled person as the problem. It emphasizes the rehabilitation of disabled people to make them fit into society. The focus is on correcting the impairment rather than meeting the needs. Social Model of Disability defines the difference between impairment and disability. Impairment does not necessarily lead to disability. People are disabled by manmade environmental barriers and social prejudices. The Social Model of Disability advocates the restructuring of society to eliminate institutional discrimination. It promotes the establishment of a conducive environment where disabled people can coexist on equal terms with society in general.

In my working trips overseas, I have met people with severe physical impairments in that are living independently in their communities. They are able to achieve this through a social support system that provides personal assistants, peer counselling and independent living skills training, among others. The accessible built environment and public transport system also plays an important role in enabling disabled people to move around conveniently to participate in the activities of the community that they live in.

Disabled people in Malaysia have been screaming themselves hoarse to advocate for similar social support systems to enable us to live independently in the community too. If it can be done in other countries, it can be done here. For one reason or another, issues of disabled people have not been given the attention it deserves. Disabled people are still being marginalized in all areas in society.

Where disability rights advocates have failed, perhaps Datuk Seri Jeanne can whisper into the ear of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to seriously look into the issues affecting disabled people in a holistic manner? Surely a few words from lips of the wife is worth a thousand words of disability rights advocates who have been unsuccessful in impressing the government on the real and urgent needs of disabled people.

The Star
Monday September 8, 2008
Jeanne visits paralympic team
By CELESTE FONG

BEIJING: Developers have been urged to design more disabled-friendly housing projects.

Datin Seri Jeanne Abdullah, the wife of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, who was touched by the disabled-friendly facilities she saw at the Paralympic Games Village here, said: “We should do more for the disabled.

“I hope schools will encourage and teach children to help (the disabled) if they see a disabled (person). We should change our mindset to be more caring,” she added.

Pointing at the disabled-friendly ATM machine booth, Jeanne said the facilities in the village showed the level of consideration for the disabled.

She was also awed by the spirit of the paralympians and the courage displayed by them, saying that Malaysians could emulate them.

“This is what we should be doing in our country,” she said, hoping that Malaysians could raise the level of consideration for the disabled.

Jeanne, the patron of the Malaysian Paralympic Council, was accompanied by Youth and Sports Minister Datuk Ismail Sabri Yaakob, Malaysian Ambassador to China Datuk Syed Norulzaman Kamarulzaman, Kuala Lumpur Mayor Datuk Ab Hakim Borhan and National Sports Council director-general Datuk Zolkples Embong to the games village here.

On the Malaysian paralympians, Jeanne, who met them in the village, said Abdullah had conveyed his best wishes to them.

The Malaysian paralympians will begin their respective events today.

Dear Pak Lah,
I just saw in the news on tv that you made a surprise check on KTM Komuter and Kelana Jaya Line. You saw for yourself the problems that people are facing when using these two lines. Did you see any wheelchair user in the trains? Did you see any disabled person while you were waiting at the station? No? If 5% to 10% of the population is disabled, you should statistically see at least one disabled person out of every ten non-disabled people that you met at the train stations. Do you know why?

Come, let me tell you. It is very simple. The external built environment, the first step towards the liberty of wheelchair users, is full of barriers. There are no ramps to pedestrian walkways. Sometimes, there are no walkways at all. We have to risk life and limbs to go on the road to move from point to point and risk being hit by vehicles. There are also very few pedestrians crossing for us to cross the road safely.

The buses - no wheelchair user can get into one. Government-owned RapidKL and RapidPenang have promised to make their buses friendly to us. None are despite the repeated promises. We waited and waited. In the end, the supposedly wheelchair-friendly RapidKL buses that were shown to us had badly designed ramps and rickety wheelchair restraining system and very few bus stop that wheelchair users could get to. So no go there too.

Minister of Women, Family and Community Development Datuk Dr Ng Yen Yen said that only 50 disabled people have applied for the 10,000 jobs made available in the public sector. She also said that disabled people “cannot just expect us to knock on your doors and inform you about the opportunities.”

Truth be told dear Pak Lah, we do not expect Dr. Ng to come knocking on our doors one by one to inform us of job openings. No, she has more important things to accomplish than to do that. We know there are openings but how are we supposed to go to work when almost all the infrastructure in the country is hostile to disabled people. The built environment is against us. There is no public transport that we can take.

When disabled people cannot even access these two basic facilities safely and conveniently, how can we go to school to get an education and acquire the necessary qualifications to be gainfully employed? How can we go to workplaces when the same problems in the built environment and public transport still beset us?

Pak Lah, please listen to our heartfelt pleas. We have been marginalized for so long that our community have been left far behind as compared to the rest of the rakyat. Most of us are under-qualified, unemployed and dependent on our family or charity to survive. We feel so depressed sometimes thinking about the pathetic situation we are in now.

We want to be active participants in society and contribute meaningfully to nation-building. We want to lead a fulfilling and productive life. We are unable to because of these unresolved problems. Do you know how ridiculous it is that Datuk Sheikh Muzaphar could go to the International Space Station which is more than 300km away in outer space and come back safely while a wheelchair users like me cannot even get to KLCC from Pandan Perdana which is a mere 10km apart in distance using public transport?

Pak Lah, we beseech you to use all the power and resources within your means to correct this situation. Disabled people do not want to be still marginalized like this when Malaysia achieves developed nation status in 2020. I hope you will find that little spark of conscience in your heart to do what is right in this matter. I look forward to the day when Malaysia is a country with infrastructure that is inclusive and accessible to everyone. It is then that the government can say with a firm conviction that Malaysia is truly a masyarakat penyayang.

Thank you for your time.

Yours very sincerely,
Peter Tan
Wheelchair user of 24 years