- Details
- Created on Thursday, 11 December 2014 08:18
- Published Date
- Written by Anthony Thanasayan
- Category: Columnist
Last
week, more than one billion of the world's population of disabled
people - now billed as the largest minority group in every society of
the globe - celebrated 'International Day of Persons with Disabilities'
(IDPD).
This was on December 3.
Two major local events were held during the same time, in conjunction with the international occasion.
They left us as disability advocates with plenty to think about, when they were over.
Especially so, in the area of improvements and priorities, when someone decides to organise an event involving disabled persons.
Here are the 'high and low' points of
both occasions, followed by what can and should be done in future, to
improve such events.
1) The IDPD celebration organised
(amongst others) by the National Welfare Department (JKM) and the
Seremban Municipal Council of Negeri Sembilan (MPSNS):
Great part: Spreading the IDPD cause outside KL
This was a most positive effort by JKM.
The IDPD message of disabled welfare and rights badly needs to be heard
in every state of the nation, instead of frequently in KL and Selangor
alone.
Kudos to JKM for holding the event in
the MPSNS. This will certainly inspire the municipality there to do more
in terms of accessibility for its disabled residents.
It will also likely have a snowballing
effect in other states, so that more disabled people and local councils
in the country can be empowered through IDPD's events.
By the way, this is not to say that JKM has never held an IDPD occasion outside Kuala Lumpur. It has.
But the point is it should now start holding many more in every other state, before returning to the capital city.
With more than 2000 people attending the
whole-day event (the exhibition was from 8.30am and the official
ceremony, in the afternoon,), more consideration should have been given
to the physically disabled. Regretfully, not so.
At least ten members of the Independent
Living and Training Centre, Malaysia (ILTC) from Rawang, Selangor, who
came in wheelchairs and had walking difficulties, complained about it.
They said that, unlike that provided for the VIPs, not a single car park was reserved for disabled drivers next to the venue.
In fact, they could not find any
wheelchair-logo car parks anywhere! So, the handicapped guests had to
park outside the council hall and compound.
Some even had to park their vehicles a
kilometre away. From there, they were forced to wheel themselves up and
down the steep slopes on the way to the venue.
Some of the others had tried to park
inside the compound of the council but were promptly shooed away by the
police. This caused unpleasant arguments to erupt - the last thing that
anyone would want to experience on a day of celebration.
Inside, they experienced further barriers.
Physically-handicapped guests had no
access to all the activities that were going on, simply because their
wheelchairs was unable to get near them.
They had no choice but to sit in a
restricted corner and watch the events going on in the council's open
field. It was no fun being spectators instead of active participants.
The toilets for the disabled were at
least 500 metres away. No volunteers had been designated to help in
pushing the wheelchairs that distance.
At least a couple of disabled women even
fell off their wheelchairs. This was because of the poorly- constructed
ramps in the hostile environment.
"It was clear the organisers didn't go
all the way to think about our needs. They were obviously more
interested in seeing to the able-bodied VIPs' convenience, rather than
ours," lamented Francis Siva, president of the ILTC.
"How could it be a called a
'celebration' for us when we suffered so much - especially driving all
the way that day for about 180 kilometres from Rawang to Seremban, and
then, having to head back home again?" he added.
"To make matters worse, the disabled
senator who uses a wheelchair was notably not present to witness what
was happening on such an important occasion as the IDPD," Siva
concluded.
2) The Fifth Asia-Pacific Network for
Accessible Tourism jointly organised by the Petaling Jaya City Council
(MBPJ) and Beautiful Gate Foundation in Selangor:
Great part: Definitely a most worthy event
The
event featured top global authority speakers on universal designs that
included disabled persons in everything.
With more than 20 countries
participating (UK, Jordan, India, Philippines and more), this was an
excellent opportunity for Malaysia to meet and see how nations and
societies the world over are rushing and working against time to prepare
themselves for the increasing population of elderly persons, who will
have one type of disability or another.
It was also a terrific chance for MBPJ -
with several international and local awards on disability access and
projects behind them (the latest one from Seremban's IDPD 2014 event) -
to showcase their achievements, which they did at ICAT during site
visits.
I heard the overseas delegates were
pretty impressed with what they saw. Some of them commented that PJ had
"outdone" some of the local councils in their own countries, in terms of
the blind and wheelchair accessibility in parks.
Bad part: Poor crowd and mostly the wrong audience
The key persons, such as representatives
from the Tourism Board, government officials, local councils, hotels,
architects, developers, simply weren't there to take in all the valuable
information.
They also missed, in particular, finding out about the
latest state-of-the-art adaptable designs and facilities used in other
countries.
Their presence was absolutely critical
if things are to significantly change in the quality of life for all
disabled persons in the country.
Petaling Jaya was also, perhaps, not the
best choice for a pivotal event like this. KL would have been a better
venue for far-reaching results.
The audience, in the end, other than the
international participants, was largely made up of local and ordinary
disabled persons and able-bodied volunteers, people not in positions of
authority to bring about changes.
One participant observed that it was a more "daycare centre-like" event, than anything business-like or professional.
Finally, and curiously, the
international delegates of ICAT were brought to a session of a local
animal rescue adoption programme that featured a couple of paralysed
canines on wheels, purportedly "to celebrate IDPD".
If true, I'm seriously puzzled by this.
What have handicapped dogs got to do
with disabled people, other than the obvious fact of trying to get
sympathy from the public in order to fill up the coffers of the NGO for
animals?
Or is there a new disability-advocacy
movement somewhere which I don't know about, to also champion
"wheelchair access" for dogs with disabilities at airports, train
stations, hotels and tourist spots?
Whatever the case, the painful truth is
that human beings who are disabled have still light years more to go for
ICAT's noble vision to become a reality.
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