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Still room for progress
By Anthony Thanasayan, 3 Dec 1998
Used with permission from Star Publications (M) Berhad
TODAY is International Day for Disabled Persons and everywhere scores of disabled people are bringing the world's attention to their plight. Our aim: to demystify disability.
Gone are the days when people like us were ashamed of ourselves and afraid to appear in public. Now we come out in full force, proud to tell the world that we expect and demand nothing more and nothing less than to be treated with equal dignity and respect like any other human being.
International Day for Disabled Persons gives us an opportunity to speak out loud and clear so that the whole world can hear us. It's a reason to celebrate our hopes and dreams of better things to come; it's also a time to stop and ruminate on our successes -- as well as learn from drawbacks -- in our quest to create a better world for all.
A few weeks ago, I met up with some of the leading local disability advocates and individuals to find out the good and not-so-good things that have happened to disabled Malaysians, and the issues which need to be addressed.
Here's what I discovered:
Total communication
Tan Yap, the man who first taught Malaysians how to communicate in sign language, holds a number of posts. He is the chairman of the eight-year-old Society of Interpreters for the Deaf in Selangor and Wilayah Persekutuan; the president of the seven-year-old National Council for the Hearing Impaired of Malaysia; and more recently, president of the Very Special Arts Malaysia, an organisation that encourages the participation of handicapped people in fine arts.
"The good news is that deaf communication has significantly improved in recent times," he says.
Tan cites signing of news bulletins on TV and the increased availability of sign-language interpreters at some leadership seminars and workshops and even at churches as good signs. More hospital staff and health professionals are now able to use sign language, indicating that the going is good for deaf Malaysians especially in the Klang Valley, Sabah and Sarawak.
"People are more open to what we call 'total communication" which includes lip reading, sign language, writing and miming," says Tan.
What is urgently needed now is for sign language to be included in the curriculum in all deaf schools, much like Bahasa Malaysia and English, he adds.
Immense support
Kamariah Mohd Amin joined Dignity & Services, an organisation for people with learning difficulties, as its co-director five years ago. She has a son named Basri, 17, with Down Syndrome. He also uses a wheelchair.
Kamariah says she's encouraged and touched by the immense support she and her family received from the principal and teachers of her son's special class in Petaling Jaya.
"Basri's teacher, in particular, believes in all her students and their potential despite their handicaps. She's perfect at relating to them," says Kamariah.
Basri has learnt how to clean and cook fish and bee hoon and enjoys shopping, doing arts and crafts and going on nature outings.
Kamariah is concerned, though, that when Basri graduates in two years' time, he will have no place to further his education.
"I'd like to see a place set up for Basri and his peers to learn more things so that they can live a little more independently and integrate with the rest of society.
"I'd also like to see a society that cares for people with multiple handicaps like Basri who has difficulty finding his way about in a wheelchair," she adds.
Visual disabilities
Godfrey Ooi of the Malaysian Association for the Blind in Kuala Lumpur, says he's encouraged by the authorities' recent efforts to improve access for disabled persons inside and outside buildings.
However, Ooi, who is blind, says such efforts must be followed up with strict enforcement.
Choo Kim Kong is also blind and lives alone in Brickfields. He has seen an improvement as far as hazards to the blind are concerned. Drains that were once uncovered and menacing have now been sealed.
But now the blind face another problem: Shrewd motorists are taking advantage of the situation by inconsiderately parking their motorcycles and cars along the pavement. This not only obstructs the path of the blind but also forces them to walk on the road. This puts their lives in danger as they now have to join the whizzing cars on the road!
So while much has been done to improve the lot of disabled people, there still remains much room for improvement.
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