Disability Equality Training For University Of Malaya Disability Liaison Officers

The Students Affairs Division (Bahagian Hal Ehwal Pelajar) of University of Malaya organised a 2-1/2 day Disability Equality Training (DET) workshop from 28th to 30th November for its Disability Liaison Officers (DLOs). This is a newly created position. The DLOs comprise principals and supervisors from all the residential colleges and academic staff. They are the resource persons on disability matters for students and staff of the university.

Peter Tan facilitating DET Workshop for Disability Liaison Officers (DLOs)
Peter Tan facilitating the Disability Equality Training (DET) Workshop at University of Malaya.
Photo by Wuan.

The objectives of this workshop were to identify and include good practices in their work following the Social Model of Disability and to develop a roadmap on implementation of inclusive facilities and services in campus. The fact that the participants already have a basic understanding of disability issues made my work as their facilitator easier.

UM Disability Liaison Officers at DET Workshop
University of Malaya Disability Liaison Officers at the Disability Equality Training Workshop.
Photo by Wuan.

The various DET modules reinforced and expanded the DLOs’ existing knowledge about disability in a logical and easy to understand method. We covered topics like the Social Model of Disability and Medical Model of Disability, and examined the differences between impairment and disability, disabled person and person with disabilities, and worked on paradigm-changing exercises using the open box solution to solve problems. These are the crucial knowledge that the DLOs need when they deal with disability matters.


Group 2 presenting their action plan.
Photo by Wuan.

The workshop concluded with the DLOs coming out with feasible action plans to improve on the existing services and facilities for disabled students. These include coming out with a Standard Operating Procedures for DLOs, increasing the availability of documents in accessible formats and an accessibility map of the campus. These plans are a good start in making DLOs understand their roles and at the same time provide useful information to disabled students who may need them.


Group 3 presenting their action plan.
Photo by Wuan.

It was a privilege to be a facilitator to this faculty of academics, all of whom are experts on their respective fields of study. I would like to record my gratitude to Puan Halimaton Attan, Head Assistant Registrar, and Puan Maznah Azis, Psychology Officer of the Counseling, Career & Disability Section of the Division of Student Affairs, for initiating this workshop and their support in seeing it to a successful conclusion. I hope this will be the catalyst to make University of Malaya a fully accessible campus.


Group 1 presenting their action plan.
Photo by Wuan.


Group photo with Disability Liaison Officers of University of Malaya.
Photo by Wuan.

Can Datuk Seri Jeanne Abdullah Effect Change For Disabled People?

The Star reported that Datin Seri Jeanne Abdullah, the wife of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, was touched by the disabled-friendly facilities she saw at the Paralympic Games Village when she was in Beijing to visit Malaysian Paralympians. Datuk Seri Jeanne is urging developers to design more disabled friendly housing projects, saying that the nation should do more for disabled people.

I hope this message will not fall on deaf ears. Disabled people in Malaysia have been facing such issues far longer than the 24 years that I have been on a wheelchair. Perhaps Datin Seri Jeanne is not aware that Malaysia already has the Uniform Building By-Law 34A (UBBL 34A) that requires all public buildings to comply with Malaysian Standard MS 1183 and MS 1184. MS 1184 is the Code of Practice on Access for Disabled People to Public Buildings. It specifies how accessible facilities inside buildings should be built. The UBBL 34A has been gazetted by the various states in the mid-1990s.

Sadly, this provision in the UBBL 34A is seldom enforced by local governments. Public buildings are still allowed to be constructed without fulfilling the said requirements. To exacerbate matters, there is no law to ensure that external built environment such as pedestrian walkways are accessible to disabled people although a code of practice in the form of Malaysian Standard MS 1331 has been drawn up for such purposes.

The newspaper report also stated that Datuk Seri Jeanne hoped schools will encourage children to help disabled people if they come across one and that we should change our mindset to be more caring. Although it is heartening to note that she is trying to inculcate a caring attitude in students, it would have been better if we can build a society where disabled people can live independently instead of depending on such ad hoc forms of assistance. At the moment, disabled people, especially those with severe impairments, are unable to practice independent living because of the prejudices against disabled people.

Society still hold on to the view that disabled people cannot do things for themselves and therefore cannot live independently. There is this notion that disabled people need charity to survive. These are all fallacies. People are disabled by the environment and attitudes, and not by their conditions. It is how we build things and how we perceive disabled people that is disabling. Malaysia has to move from the antiquated Medical Model of Disability to the Social Model of Disability in order for disabled people to benefit from a level playing field in society.

Medical Model of Disability sees the disabled person as the problem. It emphasizes the rehabilitation of disabled people to make them fit into society. The focus is on correcting the impairment rather than meeting the needs. Social Model of Disability defines the difference between impairment and disability. Impairment does not necessarily lead to disability. People are disabled by manmade environmental barriers and social prejudices. The Social Model of Disability advocates the restructuring of society to eliminate institutional discrimination. It promotes the establishment of a conducive environment where disabled people can coexist on equal terms with society in general.

In my working trips overseas, I have met people with severe physical impairments in that are living independently in their communities. They are able to achieve this through a social support system that provides personal assistants, peer counselling and independent living skills training, among others. The accessible built environment and public transport system also plays an important role in enabling disabled people to move around conveniently to participate in the activities of the community that they live in.

Disabled people in Malaysia have been screaming themselves hoarse to advocate for similar social support systems to enable us to live independently in the community too. If it can be done in other countries, it can be done here. For one reason or another, issues of disabled people have not been given the attention it deserves. Disabled people are still being marginalized in all areas in society.

Where disability rights advocates have failed, perhaps Datuk Seri Jeanne can whisper into the ear of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to seriously look into the issues affecting disabled people in a holistic manner? Surely a few words from lips of the wife is worth a thousand words of disability rights advocates who have been unsuccessful in impressing the government on the real and urgent needs of disabled people.

The Star
Monday September 8, 2008
Jeanne visits paralympic team
By CELESTE FONG

BEIJING: Developers have been urged to design more disabled-friendly housing projects.

Datin Seri Jeanne Abdullah, the wife of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, who was touched by the disabled-friendly facilities she saw at the Paralympic Games Village here, said: “We should do more for the disabled.

“I hope schools will encourage and teach children to help (the disabled) if they see a disabled (person). We should change our mindset to be more caring,” she added.

Pointing at the disabled-friendly ATM machine booth, Jeanne said the facilities in the village showed the level of consideration for the disabled.

She was also awed by the spirit of the paralympians and the courage displayed by them, saying that Malaysians could emulate them.

“This is what we should be doing in our country,” she said, hoping that Malaysians could raise the level of consideration for the disabled.

Jeanne, the patron of the Malaysian Paralympic Council, was accompanied by Youth and Sports Minister Datuk Ismail Sabri Yaakob, Malaysian Ambassador to China Datuk Syed Norulzaman Kamarulzaman, Kuala Lumpur Mayor Datuk Ab Hakim Borhan and National Sports Council director-general Datuk Zolkples Embong to the games village here.

On the Malaysian paralympians, Jeanne, who met them in the village, said Abdullah had conveyed his best wishes to them.

The Malaysian paralympians will begin their respective events today.