A FAIR PICTURE?

I was delighted to read in The Star last Friday about the comments made by our Information, Communications and Culture Minister Datuk Seri Dr Rais Yatim.

He called on television and radio stations to provide fair coverage of the various communities in Malaysia.

The good minister, referring to on-air shows such as sitcoms, serials and local films, urged those who produce them to ensure that they reflect the culture and true aspirations of Malaysians.

I couldn’t agree more with the honourable Minister.

And although Dr Rais didn’t specifically mention it, I have no doubt that he would feel the same for broadcast shows that depict the marginalised communities, namely the disabled, in our country as well.

Do our shows that we watch on TV, for instance, about handicapped people truly represent how the disabled themselves wish to be portrayed?

Not long ago, for instance, I caught a local show where “a tragedy” occurs in a family.

A mother and father rush to a hospital when they hear that their son was involved in a car crash.

After hours of waiting at the surgery and fearing the worst, a grim-faced surgeon finally emerges from the operation theatre.

The distraught and trembling parents look at the doctor who shakes his head before announcing: “I’m sorry, but although your son has survived, he will be paralysed for the rest of his life.”

The parents hug each other and weep, as if to show that it would have been better for their child if he had not survived at all than to face the future for the rest of his life as a handicapped person.

Such a portrayal of the disabled by the media is not at all helpful nor is it accurate about the disabled community in Malaysia.

When someone becomes crippled, the most important thing to do is to give them hope and show them that life is worth living – because it really is.

I can confidently say this because I have been disabled for nearly 50 years, which is all my life.

What is tragic is not that one becomes disabled but rather that we still live in a society that has still ways to go yet before becoming fully inclusive of all types of persons.

Inclusivity means building ramps for wheelchairs, guiding blocks for the blind, providing special education for the learning disabled and electronic signboards for the Deaf.

(Note that the word “Deaf” today is spelt with a capital “D”. This is to describe a certain way of life or culture of Deaf people rather than the old-fashioned and limited medical definition of “deafness” which only means the “inability to hear.”)

The trouble with our world is that many of us (especially the non disabled) are so fixated and place too much emphasis with one’s ability to be able to walk, see, hear or think in a certain way.

By doing this we end up marginalising others that do not fit in such a picture.

The fact is I happen to know quite a few non disabled people with all of the above so-called “positive abilities” quality. And yet, they are sadly not content with their lives. Some are depressed and others even suicidal.

So why is walking so important in life?

Even though I stopped doing that long, long ago, I consider myself as very gifted in where I am today.

However, I must note that the road that brought me here was never easy.

It was a journey that was fraught with daily struggles and refusing to say die or defeat to the very end.

In addition to being a columnist for this newspaper for many years, I am happy that my part-time job as a Petaling Jaya City Councillor (MBPJ) is paying off.

I am gifted with this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to help others like myself in PJ.

We in MBPJ are doing lots of things to make a lasting difference for the disabled: providing user-friendly facilities like wheelchair accessible restrooms, car parks, pavements and buildings – new and old – and even some form of public transportation.

All these features, done bit by bit, in the long run will offer tremendous hope and help to the present disabled as well as the slowly but surely increasing handicapped and elderly citizens in our country.

And then I had quite a shock last week.

A private TV station that wanted to do a story on my life suddenly gave up on me even after having set the dates and times to do the filming on my life in a wheelchair.

They turned me down because they wanted me to – wait for it - cry on public television. The editor apparently thought that a good sob was the best way for someone in a wheelchair to get sympathy from the public.

I simply refused to shed a tear in front of the camera.

As a result, I lost a splendid chance to be famous on national TV.

But hey, I managed to keep my dignity at the end.

And that to me is worth much, much more than anything this world can offer.