The Path To Understanding Disability Issues
I am currently preparing training materials on Disability Equality Training (DET). Writing about disability in this blog is one thing, drawing up training modules for people who have little knowledge about disability is another matter altogether, more so when the people that I am facilitating are in the position to change things, if they so desire. How do I make them understand that impairments to the body do not necessarily lead to disability?
I have seen how effective Dr. Kenji Kuno used the process of facilitated participatory learning to conduct DET at the Jabatan Kebajikan Masyarakat Malaysia (JKMM) two weeks back. I was invited to co-facilitate with him at the event called “Intellectual Discourse Mengenai Disability Equality Training dan Independent Living” for officers from the JKMM at Jalan Raja Laut.
The various training modules were all centred around the Social Model of Disability as opposed to the Medical Model of Disability. The medical model is determined to diagnose, treat, cure and rehabilitate people to become “normal” again. In the social model, disability is seen as a social construct. It is people that creates an environment that disables other people. The social model respects the diversity in humanity and promotes equality through inclusion.
While I am appling the methods used by Dr. Kuno, I still need to come out with the training materials to suit my style and pace of conducting the course. I usually prefer to customise the course to suit the participants who have different levels of understanding of disability and the expected outcome from it, whether they are disabled people, non-disabled people or officers from the private sectors or government departments.
As I see it, DET is the most effective tool for promoting the understanding of the causes of disability. DET facilitators guide participants through as series of exercises that show disability as a social issue rather than a personal one. At the end of the course, participants come up with an action plan to resolve these issues.
DET promotes proactive behaviour towards creating an environment of equality for all. I like how the process of learning DET is structured with an outcome expected at the end. This is the tool that disability rights advocates should use to educate society with. DET allows people to understand disability through the process of discovering it themselves. This is more effective than giving a 2-hour monologue on disability and boring participants into slumber halfway through.
Tags: DET, Disability Equality Training, facilitated participatory learning, Jabatan Kebajikan Masyarakat, JKM, Kenji Kuno, Social Model of Disability, Social Welfare Department of Malaysia
Independent Living Course At Institut Sosial Malaysia
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.
Tags: Institut Sosial Malaysia, Jabatan Kebajikan Masyarakat, Japan International Cooperation Agency, JICA, Kenji Kuno
International Day of Persons with Disabilities 2009
Today is the International Day of Persons with Disabilities. I would rather that it be called International Day of Disabled Persons. There is a difference between the two. The former puts the onus of disablement on the person. The person has a disability which is the main cause of the problems that he faces in society. The latter describes the situation of the person who is disabled by attitudinal and physical barriers in society. Read more about what I have written regarding this topic under “Social Model of Disability“.
The theme for this year is “Making the MDGs Inclusive: Empowerment of persons with disabilities and their communities around the worldâ€. MDGs means Millennium Development Goals. The following is a brief on the MDGs with regards to disabled people according to United Nations Enable:
MDGs and persons with disabilities
The United Nations and the global community continue to work for the mainstreaming of persons with disabilities in all aspects of society and development. Although many commitments have been made to include disability and persons with disabilities in development, the gap between policy and practice continues.
Ensuring that persons with disabilities are integrated into all development activities is essential in order to achieve internationally agreed development goals, such as the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The MDGs can only be achieved if persons with disabilities and their family members are included. This in turn will ensure that people with disabilities and their family members benefit from international development initiatives. Efforts to achieve the MDGs and implement the Convention are interdependent and mutually reinforcing.
More information on the MDGs and persons with disabilities [http://www.un.org/disabilities/default.asp?id=1470]
So, today is a day dedicated to people like me – people on wheelchairs, people who are blind, people who are deaf and people who are living with other forms of impairment. Thank you so much for remembering us and honouring us and recognising us. All these have no meaning if no affirmative action is taken to reduce the socioeconomic gap between disabled people and non-disabled people.
This can only be achieved by making infrastructure and services accessible to all, first and foremost public transport and the built environment. Without access to these two, there is no way for disabled people to come into mainstream society. The federal government, state governments and local authorities, have the means and resources to do this. Sad to say, most of them do not take the initiative to make the infrastructure inclusive.
The Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development (Kementerian Pembangunan Wanita, Keluarga dan Masyarakat), through the Jabatan Kebajikan Masyarakat Malaysia (Department of Social Welfare Malaysia) is holding a celebration in conjunction with this day on December 5 at Komplex MAB in Brickfields. The Ministry has chosen not to follow the theme promoted by United Nations and instead use “Pendayaupayaan OKU Ke Arah Pembangunan Potensi Diri” (Empowering Disabled People Towards Developing Self Potential).
Talk is cheap. I have heard ministers, wives of ministers and government officials talk about making life easier for disabled people. Many of these “positive announcements” are archived in this blog. As far as I am concerned, nothing has changed. 1Malaysia kah or Rakyat Didahulukan kah, disabled people are still marginalised in every way through ommission, ignorance and discrimination. The people in government should stop talking and start working towards achieving equalisation of opportunities for disabled people. Just resolve our issues. It is as simple as that. We do not need the government spending money celebrating this day but not doing anything afterwards. No thank you!
Tags: 1Malaysia, Department of Social Welfare Malaysia, disabled people Malaysia, discrimination against disabled people, Jabatan Kebajikan Masyarakat, Kementerian, Kementerian Pembangunan Wanita Keluarga dan Masyarakat, MDG, Millennium Development Goals, Ministry of Women Family and Community Development, United Nations Enable