Category: Monster Blog

Monster Blog – January 5, 2007: Not A Good Start To 2007

Not A Good Start To 2007

Barely one week into the New Year, the disability movement has lost a tireless worker. Diana Khoo, former Regional Training Officer of Cheshire Home Far East Region, passed away yesterday evening. I have known her for as long as I have spinal cord injury. She was working with my physiotherapist on some rehabilitation projects in the late-eighties and I was the subject of one of those projects.

Diana is a well-known figure among the disabled persons’ community in Penang. After her stint with Cheshire Home, she carried on working independently in disability-related projects, among them, providing day care to disabled persons. At the same time, she was also planning to work with hospitals in providing resources for patients with disabilities.

I had the opportunity to meet her again in April last year to discuss on how we could work together on Independent Living projects that I was initiating in Penang. We had agreed to meet up again to explore further the possibilities as I had to come to Kuala Lumpur that time and she was about to fly off to England too. Sadly, I will never have the privilege of working with her again. Rest in peace my dear friend.

Monster Blog – December 29, 2006: 2006 – The Malaysian Disability Movement In Review

2006 – The Malaysian Disability Movement In Review

2006 has been a year of interesting development for the disability movement in Malaysia. There is a greater awareness regarding the social model of disability. This concept sees society as the disabling factor instead of impairments. In short, it is the attitude and built barriers that disable people. The environment is built for the majority when it should have been made to be usable by all. This essentially marginalises and segregates pockets of society that are deemed to be different from the rest.

There is also a general understanding among the disabled community now that living with impairment does not necessarily mean having to live a less fulfilling life. As long as disabled persons can make informed decisions regarding issues that affect them, they are able to lead a reasonably rewarding life. This is due largely to the effort of the Jabatan Kebajikan Masyarakat Malaysia (JKMM) and the Japan International Cooperation Agency’s (JICA) effort in supporting Independent Living Programmes for People with Disability.

Dr. Kenji Kuno, Chief Advisor of JICA, must be credited for this initiative and his effort in empowering the disability movement in Malaysia. Through JKMM and JICA, he organised various trainings for disabled persons and welfare officers, and provided valuable technical expertise in this field to the government and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) working on disability-related issues. His insight and experience makes him a valuable resource person and injects a fresh breath to the movement in Malaysia.

The most prominent event in 2006 where disability issues are concerned was not the FESPIC Games but the campaign for accessible public transport organised by the Barrier-Free Environment and Accessible Transport Group (BEAT). FESPIC Games displayed the painful reality of the infrastructure and non-existent accessible public transport in Malaysia, especially for wheelchair users. At a national conference on accessibility organised by the Kementerian Pembangunan Wanita, Keluarga dan Masyarakat, a speaker likened athletes that needed assistance to board non-accessible buses on steep makeshift ramps to cattle being herded into trucks.

BEAT, an informal coalition comprising sixteen major NGOs in the Klang Valley, were concerned that none of the public buses catered to the needs of the mobility impaired. The group held a campaign in September to demonstrate the dire situation of public transport for wheelchair users and a rally at Brickfields on the International Day of Disabled Persons to highlight the matter again. The event was widely covered by the print and electronic media and caught the attention of politicians who assured the group that they would look into the matter.

Going forward, I can foresee that through awareness campaigns and a better understanding of their rights, more disabled persons will come out and advocate for a fair and equitable society where they can participate fully in nation building. Given the opportunity, disabled persons would prefer not to be at the receiving end of charity and welfare but be productive citizens contributing to the development of Malaysia. They can only do that when they are included in all aspects of mainstream society through the removal of attitudinal and environmental barriers. Let’s hope that 2007 will herald in a better year when the Disabled Persons Act is tabled at Parliament to unequivocally protect the rights of people who have been marginalised and discriminated against for far too long. Here is a toast to a brighter future.

MonsterBlog – December 20, 2006: Conference on Transportation and Education for Disabled Persons in Malaysia

Conference on Transportation and Education for Disabled Persons

Lift van from Mobiliti at the BAKTI-MIND Exhibition

The BAKTI-MIND Project organised a conference on education and transport at Bangunan Siti Hasmah from December 17 to 20, 2006. The theme of the BAKTI-MIND 2nd Annual Conference is “Empowering Persons with Disabilities (PWD) through Information Provision” which aimed at “Bridging the Critical Gaps in Transportation and Education for PWD in Malaysia.”

The current hot issue is accessible public transportation. This is the line that connects all the dots for disabled persons living in the community. Public transport is crucial to the lives of disabled persons. It allows them to go to school to get an education. It allows them to get to work and be gainful employed. It allows them to lead an active social life. It allows them to fulfil their cultural, political and religious aspirations. In short, being able to move around freely is, among others, the key to a gratifying life for disabled persons.

The three foreign speakers on transport spoke at length about alternative transportation for disabled persons. This mode of transportation is mainly door-to-door or point-to-point service using modified taxis or vans with lifts to ferry specifically wheelchair users, generally people with mobility impairments and other forms of disability. At the same time, Malaysian speakers shared about the state of public and alternative transportation in the country in relation to disabled persons, and also the infrastructure needed to make the entire system effective and practical.

Persatuan Mobiliti Selangor dan Kuala Lumpur is one of the only two groups providing door-to-door transport service for disabled persons in Malaysia currently. At RM3 per trip to anywhere within the Klang Valley, one can see that this service is heavily subsidised. Undeniably, they are doing an impressively good job in providing the transportation needs of disabled persons. Nevertheless their service is limited from nine to five on weekdays only. What happens to those who need transport after-hours and on weekends?

Public transport for the mobility-impaired such as buses and urban rails should be the main mode of transportation because of their vast network and resources. Alternative transport such as accessible taxis and lift vans can play a supplementary role by working on routes not served by public transport and for specific needs that cannot be fulfilled by public buses and trains.

The burden to provide accessible transport to disabled persons should not be left solely on the shoulders of Non-Governmental Organisations and a few private entities. Instead, the government should be proactive in drawing up a sustainable public transportation policy to ensure that no one community is marginalised or inadvertently left out.