A crippling budget for the disabled

A crippling budget for the disabled - Anthony Thanasayan

1771

Details

Created on Thursday, 16 October 2014 07:00

Published Date

Written by Anthony Thanasayan

Category: Columnist

• 
• 

2 Comments

LAST FRIDAY's Budget 2015 for persons with disabilities was a huge letdown.

I mean, just imagine: How can a mere monthly increase of RM50 from RM300 to RM350 for disabled workers make a meaningful difference in their expenses?

And please note, the RM50 is only for employees with disabilities who earn a salary within RM1200 a month.

So not all disabled workers are being "helped".

Then, there are those without jobs. For them there is also that RM50 increment. Instead of RM150 a month, it's RM200 now.

It doesn't take a brain scientist to realise how ludicrous this is for someone with no income at all!

What is the government really trying to do? Help the disabled to become truly independent so that they can one day fend for themselves, or ensure that they remain as charity objects so that the world can control and continue to patronise them?

Budget 2015 certainly seems to be geared to the latter.  

Let's consider the following real-life stories:

CK is 65 years old, unmarried and blind. He lost his sight in an accident. A sharp point in the canopy of the stall where he was working pierced his eye and the infection from it eventually rendered his other eye blind too.

That all happened when he was a teenager. Today, he lives in a low-cost flat in Shah Alam, Selangor.

After retirement, he applied for an unemployment allowance from the Welfare Department. He had to make several trips there before some officers finally came to his home for what he described as "an assessment of his living conditions".

In the end he got a rude shock. The Welfare Department agreed to give him only RM80 instead of the full RM150. CK got so upset and insulted by their action that he decided to reject the welfare aid altogether.

"As a disabled person, no one can take my dignity away from me or try to humiliate my struggles in doing my best to lead an independent life," he said.  

CK has a heart problem which requires regular checkups in a government hospital. He uses taxis to keep his appointments with his doctor.

Sometimes he gets lucky and manages to get someone to accompany him. However, it is not uncommon for him to have to pay that person for his/her services. Apart from this, there are also the utility bills, food and other living expenses to be taken care of, and CK has to dig into whatever is left of his savings to settle these.

"Like everyone else, I would love to continue to work, but the reality is no one wants to employ an old man especially when he is blind like me," he concluded.

MD is also a blind individual living in Puchong, Selangor. At 65 years of age, she has a part-time job helping to stick donation appeal letters into envelopes for a blind society.

She travels to her workplace three times a week by taxi. She manages to earn about RM350 a month but most of her money is swallowed up by her taxi fares.

"I have to reapply for my allowance every year," MD pointed out. "But the reminders that the Welfare Department sends out are in printed form and not in Braille," she added.

As a result, MD has to find a sighted person to first read the letters to her and then help her to fill out the form.

"It would be much better if the welfare officers called up the blind on our mobile phones and then made an appointment to visit us and help us fill out the forms," said MD, "but they never visit the blind."

Wheelchair-users have been complaining that their monthly allowances have been disappearing from their bank accounts. They only get to know about this when they visit the bank to collect their allowances.

The Welfare Department (JKM) has confirmed that this sometimes happens when the recipients fail to renew them with the Department.

However, despite assurances from the top brass in JKM that the problems will be attended to promptly, disabled persons at grassroots level still complain of encountering unhelpful and sometimes rude frontline staff who don't give them the help that they require.

Finally, disabled activists who work with persons with disabilities on the ground have been lobbying for a minimum of RM500 monthly allowance for all disabled Malaysians across the board to help them cope with the rising cost of living.            

The matter was also raised directly with Women, Family and Community Development Minister Datuk Seri Rohani Abdul Karim at several meetings with the disabled.

Unfortunately, that never happened with Budget 2005, which is really the biggest disappointment of all.

It must also be pointed out that disabled senator Bathmavathi Krishnan has let the handicapped community down in the country.

This is the first budget to come out with a wheelchair senator in Parliament. As a result, the expectations were high.  

But now, many in the disabled community are left wondering if she has done the needful, in convincing the top brass of the country why a RM500 allowance for all disabled persons is the best option to take.

Bernama news agency quoted her as saying she was pushing for RM150 to RM300 monthly for the disabled who are unemployed.

This is utterly ridiculous as RM200 or RM300 wouldn't even begin to address the important issue of raising the quality of life of disabled people who are out of jobs and badly in need of financial assistance.

Disabled activists are also questioning the purpose of having  an annual grant of RM1million for the National Council for Persons with Disabilities.

They want to know why this grant has been given, not only for a group that only meets about four times a year, but also for one which hardly interacts with the disabled community.

The aNt.

back to top