Tag: Majlis Kebajikan dan Pembangunan Masyarakat Kebangsaan Malaysia

Disability Equality Training In Malaysia 2010

My daily routine was interrupted the whole of November. The first to weeks of the month was spent commuting daily to Bandar Baru Sentul and back. There, I spent most of the time learning and co-facilitating on Disability Equality Training with nineteen others from Thailand, India, Nepal, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines and Malaysia.

Group photo of Disability Equality Training TOT 2010 at MAKPEM
Group photo of Disability Equality Training TOT 2010 at MAKPEM.
Photo courtesy of Japan International Cooperation Agency Malaysia.

I had to wake up at five to get ready and brave the Jalan Loke Yew traffic jam with Wuan every morning. After dropping me off at MAKPEM, she took the LRT from Sentul to get to work. Those days, we barely slept more than five hours as we usually reached home at around 9.00 pm. By the time we were ready for bed, it was well past midnight already.

Disability Equality Training TOT 2010 at MAKPEM
Disability Equality Training TOT 2010 at MAKPEM.

It was a tough routine but what I learnt from the training was worth the effort. Dr. Kenji Kuno, the course facilitator, not only enlightened us on the two models on disability, namely the Social Model of Disability and Medical Model of Disability. He also taught us the finer skills to facilitate effectively.

Group work at Disability Equality Training TOT 2010 at MAKPEM
Group work at Disability Equality Training TOT 2010 at MAKPEM.

Although two weeks were barely sufficient to cover all the training modules, we basically had a good grasp of how we could promote a better understanding of the issues faced by disabled people and how those issues can be resolved through proactive actions, not only by disabled people but society in general as well.

Almost Over

The 2nd Regional Training of Trainers on Disability Equality Training (DET) ended today. Some of the participants have already left for home. I am missing them already. We spent so much time learning from each other in the eight days we were together. The 1st Regional Senior Disability Equality Training (DET) Trainers’ Training will conclude tomorrow. I am still here at MAKPEM in Bandar Baru Sentul waiting for Wuan to come pick me up.

I have to admit it has been a tiring two weeks but it was well worth the sleep deprivation and the time spent at the training. There were so many concepts to pick up, so many new presentation and facilitation techinques to learn and so many friendships forged. The camaraderie among the facilitators and participants was great. This must be one of the best trainings that I have attended.

On Saturday, I will be facilitating a half-day DET session for members of POCAM (Persatuan Orang-Orang Cacat Anggota Malaysia) with fresh skills learnt from this training. It is my fervent hope that more people will become aware of disability issues and that society at large and disabled people work together to resolve the multitude of problems that are disabling certain segments of the population from full and equal participation in Malaysia.