JICA Office at Menara Citibank.

The wheels are in motion. I attended a briefing at the JICA Office at Menara Citibank on Wednesday for Counterpart Training for Independent Living Programme for People with Disabilities together with Siew Chin and Harry of the Beautiful Gate foundation for the Disabled, and two Personal Assistants (PAs).

The application form for visa to Japan.

The three of us trainees are using wheelchairs. We filled in the form for visa application and the applied to be members of the JICA Alumni Society of Malaysia. We were then briefed on the visa application, arrival procedure, allowances provisions, etc. After the briefing, we collected our plane tickets from the JAL office in the same building. I had requested for a low-protein low-salt/no salt added meal.

(Clockwise from bottom left) Audio tape and phrase book for simple
conversations in Japanese, Copy of the the letter to the
Jabatan Kebajikan Masyarakat Malaysia from JICA
confirming my nomination for the Counterpart Training for
Independent Living Programme for people with Disabilities,
plane ticket from JAL and the JICA Trainee Guide Book.

Now I need to get the appropriate clothes, especially when January is the coldest month in Japan with the average temperature hovering around freezing point. The extreme cold will be a problem. I tend to get spasms in low temperatures. I wonder how many layers of clothes I need to wear.

Photo : The Penang Immigration Department at Beach Street.

The Jabatan Imigresen Malaysia has become very efficient as compared to the last time when I renewed my passport in 1995. I applied to renew that long expired passport yesterday and was told to go back today to collect the new one. The Jabatan Imigresen at Beach Street was a hive of activity on both days I was there. Although there were many people, application forms were processed quickly and waiting time was approximately 30 minutes. Perhaps that was due to the fact that there was a counter specially for people with disabilities, the elderly and children.

Photo : My passport.

The passport is for my two-week trip to Tokyo for training on Independent Living in January next year. This training is funded by Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) as a follow up to the Independent Living Workshop that I attended in September. Two others were selected along with me for this trip. Two Personal Assistants (PAs) will be accompanying us. Wuan was supposed to be my PA but she had to pull out because of work commitments.

To renew the passport, I had to pay RM1 for the form, fill it up, provide 2 copies of colour photographs, a photocopy of my identity card and the old passport. As a person with disability holding the Kad Kenal Diri Orang Kurang Upaya, I was exempted from paying the RM300 fee. I got a Welfare Officer from the Head Office of the Jabatan Kebajikan Masyarakat Malaysia to provide me with a letter for good measure for the RM300 exemption when I attended the Disability Equality Training in Kuala Lumpur recently.

Photo : The back entrance with a ramp at the Penang Immigration Department at Beach Street.

While I was impressed by the efficiency of the Jabatan Imigresen, its accessibility for wheelchairs is sorely lacking. The front entrance was totally inaccessible. The ramp at the back was too steep and dangerous. Peter was supposed to work today but took leave to accompany me to collect the passport as he was worried that Elaine would not be able to push me up that ramp. Although the building is old, a little more effort in designing a proper ramp would have made a difference not only to people on wheelchairs but the elderly and people with mobility problems too.

Participants at the Independent Living Seminar.

There was a time, should someone ask me to name great men, I would have rattled off names of larger-than-life military leaders throughout history who commanded huge armies to conquer vast territories. That perception was seriously flawed. The greatest men are those that achieved more with less. I had the privilege to be acquainted with not only two of such great people but fifteen more of them recently.

Participants of the Independent Living Workshop.

The Independent Living Seminar & Workshop was the most amazing five days that radically changed all that I knew about being a Person with Disabilities (PWD). The concept of Independent Living (IL) was something I had not expected. It is not about being able to do all the things by myself. Rather, it is about choices – the choice to determine how I want to live my life, either by myself or with the help of others. One hundred PWDs and people involved with PWDs attended the one day seminar on September 10. Sixteen PWDs participated in the four-day live-in workshop from September 11 to 14. Each sixteeen of us suffers from some form of physical disabilities, most more severely than me, and had come from all parts of Malaysia to attend this workshop. Travelling is always a problem for PWDs and it was this determination that really inspired me.

(L - r) Resource persons Ms. Aiko Tsutsumi and Ms. Hiroko Akiyama.

The two resource persons were the most remarkable role models I could have ever asked for. Ms. Hiroko Akiyama is totally paralysed and needs round-the-clock assistance. Ms. Aiko Tsutsumi is a paraplegia and was always very animated in her presentations. Both resource persons took turns to conduct each day’s sessions that lasted from 9.00am to 5.00pm with breaks in between for lunch and tea. Each session was an eye-opener because all that was shared with us was something we have never learnt before. Below is a brief bio of each resource person:

Ms. Hiroko Akiyama, Director of Hino IL Centre
Worked as a consultant on IL for JICA in Thailand, and has conducted training courses in the Philippines and Korea. Has published several books on IL and peer-counseling in Japanese.

Ms. Aiko Tsusumi, Vice President of Machida Human Network (IL Centre)
Published several books on IL, peer-counseling, and issues on Eugenic protection law in Japanese. She was also in charge of several training programmes on IL for international participants.

During one session at Independent Living Workshop.

I had my first revelation in the vision I had just before Mum passed on. That changed my spiritual conviction and opened up a new path in my life based on the teachings of Jesus. This workshop is the second revelation. It has given me a new direction and a sense of purpose in my crusade for disability issues in Malaysia. Over the next twelve months, the sixteen of us participants will be embarking on a series of awareness campaigns and seminars on Independent Living throughout Malaysia. We have pledged to support each other to realise one common dream - to establish the first Independent Living Centre in Malaysia within three years. This roadshow will be the initial step in our ambition to create the first of many Independent Living Centres here.

I will be attending a one-day Independent Living Seminar tomorrow at the Institut Latihan Majilis Kebajikan dan Pembangunan Masyarakat Kebangsaan Malaysia in Bandar Baru Sentul. This seminar is organised by the Jabatan Kebajikan Masyarakat Malaysia together with the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). It will be conducted by two resource persons from Japan. The following is the blurb from the invitation:

This is an introductory seminar on IL. The objective of this seminar is to introduce the basic philosophy and practices of IL to people who are working on disability issues in Malaysia.

From Sunday to Wednesday, I will also be participating the live-in workshop on Independent Living at the same venue conducted by the same two resource persons. I look forward to learning as much as I can regarding these matters and hopefully be able to use this knowledge to contribute meaningfully to the betterment of the disabled community here in Malaysia.

Anxiety always precedes when I have to travel alone. One thousand and one things can happen that will render me helpless in an unfamiliar surrounding - Murphy�s Law. The last time I did that was almost six years ago when I went to meet Wuan and my IRC buddies for the first time. Nothing untoward happened. MAS have well-trained staff and facilities to handle people with disabilities like me who are travelling unaccompanied. Taxi drivers are no less helpful when I needed to get around. Generally, people are kind to me and offer to help but the fear still lingers.

I guess I have mollycoddled myself too much by only doing things within my own sphere of comfort. Can I survive outside that zone? I believe I can. I will just have to brace my nerves and do it. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. That said, I have confirmed my trip to Kuala Lumpur on January 8. Wuan will be picking me up from Sentral Station. I will be there for a couple of weeks. First in the agenda is of course to spend some quality time with Wuan and then to meet Marita and Grace the following weekend. I would love to meet other bloggers too. Date, time and venue are still tentative. I will update again when everything is confirmed. Suggestions are welcomed.