Thursday December 25, 2008

Listening to our needs

WHEEL POWER
BY ANTHONY THANASAYAN

TWO exciting events for the disabled and the elderly community took place in Kuala Lumpur and Petaling Jaya recently. On Monday, Mid Valley Hotels Cititel and Boulevard in KL held their annual Christmas treat for members of Petpositive. This is the third year in a row and it has become a trademark event for them.

The half-day event included a hotel lunch followed by a high tea later in the afternoon by the swimming pool, which meant guests, comprising children, young people, adults and the elderly, were also free to take a dip in the pool.

Shopping was another item on the day’s programme and it was such a treat to be able to do this together with the general public who throng the malls at this time of the year to enjoy the Yuletide sounds and sights.

In each of our animal-assisted therapy society’s functions, we try to do something different for the people we reach out to. This time we decided to invite more than a dozen people from the poor communities in Kuala Langat, Selangor, to come along.

As a result – thanks to the area’s local councillor Janarthani Arumugam – our event was supported by the Kuala Langat district. The local council provided transport for the special guests to the function. Many of these good folk rarely have the opportunity to visit a big city or shopping complexes. For all of them, the visit to the hotel plus the outing was the first time they had done so.

Living as a disabled person in smaller towns is much harder than if one were living in a big city. The disabled in poorer families live in cramped homes. They often have hardly any space to manoeuvre wheelchairs and frequently resort to crawling with great difficulty to get around. Others are even told point-blank that they are a “burden on others”. Some disabled people resort to suicide to escape their plight.

These negative and depressing images are further compounded for the disabled person when there are no handicapped-friendly facilities for them.

That is why Petpositive regularly organises events, such as the one with Cititel. We hope they will break the stereotypes and encourage the disabled in the knowledge that they can have a better future.

By being exposed to an environment that caters to their needs, the handicapped will realise that they are of as much worth as the non-disabled. And this is one of the main reasons accessibility to the outside environment is vital for Malaysians with disabilities.

The second fantastic event that took place on Tuesday was the Majlis Bandaraya Petaling Jaya’s (MBPJ) launch of its first of a total of 150 disabled-friendly parking bays.

What is special about these bays is that they will be protected from the rain and sun. This is a necessary feature that is frequently left out in other disabled-friendly car parks. The handicapped need more time than non-disabled persons to get in and out of their cars. At the MBPJ headquarters, the pathway from the car park to the office also has a covered ramp. The previous disabled parking bays were located a few feet away from the entrance and disabled persons had to cross the road to get to them.

I’m very encouraged that the local council decided to stick to details and do away with the previous bays and built new ones next to the entrance. By doing so, not only has MBPJ played a timely Santa, it is also most encouraging to note that it has listened well to our needs. This effectively says to all disabled persons in PJ: “Don’t worry, we have heard you. You can bravely come out now and we’re here to support you.”