Tuesday June 12, 2012
Going the distance for the disabled

THERE may be many disabled-friendly facilities in Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) but there is still room for improvement, said USM Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research and Innovation) Prof Asma Ismail.

She said there was a special committee to look into accessibility for disabled staff and students in the university.

“But there’s room for improvement.

“We’ll try to have more facilities but it takes time and the budget also comes into consideration,” she said.

She was officiating at the Disability Equality Training workshop at USM’s School of Social Sciences recently.

Prof Asma added that the understanding gained from the workshop would certainly give an accurate picture of the needs of physically challenged students and staff in the university.

“It will enable the university to prepare a plan to improve access for the disabled as much as possible,” she said.

“Although this group is a minority in USM, their presence contributes to the success of the university,” she added.

The workshop was initiated by a disabled undergraduate from the School of Social Sciences, Khu Li Fang, 29.

It was aimed at providing awareness on the facilities required for the disabled.

In his presentation, workshop facilitator Peter Tan Hua Choon said that around 10% of the world’s population or 650 million people lived with a disability.

The workshop also discussed topics such as independent living, approaches and processes, as well as drawing up an action plan to resolve problems faced by disabled people.

Yesterday was our third wedding anniversary. How did we spend it? We went to Mid Valley Megamall and had a less than memorable lunch at C-Jade Express. Frankly, we are getting disinterested with food in shopping malls. Those are the places that we hang out most on weekends. We have been eating the same food for years and years.

We then went to the Jusco J Card Member’s Day Sale. The size of the crowd was smaller than I had anticipated. I guess the novelty of going for a sale has worn off for many. After all, the various Jusco stores have been running one sale or another throughout the year. The only attraction about this sale is that there is a rebate of RM10 in vouchers for every RM100 spent.

Next stop after shopping was at Institut Sosial Malaysia (ISM) where I conducted the second series of the Introduction to Independent Living seminar for welfare officers from various states in Malaysia. We had a lively discussion on how Independent Living can be implemented in Malaysia and the issues faced by disabled people after the seminar.

Would you believe that Wuan and I went back to Mid Valley Megamall right after that? Yes, that was exactly what we did since it was just a 10 minute drive away from where we were. We had dinner, of all places, at Crystal Jade La Mian Xiao Long Bao at The Gardens. That dinner was less than memorable too.

We did a little more shopping at Jusco. The stainless steel drinking bottle that I wanted was not on discount. Instead, we got some energy saving light bulbs that were going for 30% off. That, basically, was how we spent our third wedding anniversary. We definitely need to do something more memorable next year.

The Institut Sosial Malaysia (ISM) under the recommendation of Dr. Kenji Kuno of the Jabatan Kebajikan Masyarakat Malaysia and Japan International Cooperation Agency invited me to speak on Independent Living for Disabled Persons (Kursus Kehidupan Berdikari bagi OKU – Sesi 1/2010) on Tuesday. The ISM conducts training for civil servants and social workers on matters related to social development.

Peter Tan conducting Independent Living course at Institut Sosial Malaysia.

The main office block and seminar rooms were located atop a hillock just at KM6 of the Lebuhraya Kuala Lumpur – Seremban. It commands a panaromic view of Bandar Tasik Selatan and the surrounding areas. About 20 social welfare officers and social workers participated in the four hour course spread over two sessions.The first session was Pengenalan Kepada Kehidupan Berdikari (Introduction to Independent Living) and the second on History of Independent Living.

Peter Tan sharing the history of Independent Living with participants at Institut Sosial Malaysia.

The practice of Independent Living was new to most of the participants as they were unaware that severely disabled persons too can live independently if given the right support and opportunities. After the sessions ended, I could feel that they got a pretty good grasp of what Independent Living is all about, especially how it is practiced in other countries such as the USA, Sweden and Japan, among others. And I need to brush up on my Bahasa Malaysia. There were more than a couple of times when I could not find the correct words to use and had to be “rescued” by the participants.