2011 Was A Year Of Accessibility

IT’S that time to say goodbye again to another great year gone by.

This weekend, the whole wide world will be welcoming in a

spanking new one.

I can think of nothing more fitting a tribute to 2011 than to take a

quick lookback at some of the incredible stories this column has

covered over the past twelve months.

   

From your feedback, I got to know that many of them helped to

open up your minds towards understanding disabilities a whole lot

better.

There were also those of you who wrote in to say that even your

hearts were deeply touched for what Malaysians with handicaps

have to put up with in their daily lives.

The start of 2011 began with me lamenting that my trips to

medical doctors and dentists in their private clinics and a

government hospital was a disaster.

My medical issues surprisingly turned out NOT to be the major

problem.

Rather, would you believe, it was the inaccessibility of my

wheelchair to their respective practices that was far more

perplexing.

The government dental hospital that I mentioned in my column I’m

really sad to note hasn’t done much since then to become

wheelchair-friendly.

The good news, however, that I’m delighted to report is that I’ve

come across several private dental clinics in Petaling Jaya that

make it a point to hold their practices on the ground floor rather

than on upper floors in shophouses with no lift access.

Not only that, but 2011 also brought about a pleasant breed of new

doctors who were more than willing to go the extra mile for their

patients.

I met a couple of them who had no qualms about making house

visits to wheelchair patients to check on them and give them

medication.

One or two – even a couple of veterinarians on the list would even

treat unemployed disabled patients (and their pets) free of

charge.   

  

Syabas to these medical professionals for being a shining example

to others – and here’s for many more of such dedicated people

in 2012!

Disabled-unfriendly buildings figured a lot in this year.

Frankly, right up to this day, I don’t know which was the worst

nightmare.

The totally neglected disabled-friendly toilet with faeces all

around it and a rotting door in a top shopping complex in PJ or

being trapped in a breakdown in my car with a big crowd in front

of me and not having anyone to come to my rescue?

Then there was the government training complex with a super

swimming pool but no disabled-friendly toilet in the building.

I couldn’t believe my ears when I was directed to use the women’s

toilet because the male loo was upstairs!

But no fret folks, because despite these modern-day horror

situations, I’m thankful to say that each and every organisation

that I had criticised in this column called me up and sincerely

wanted to do something to change the situation.

Some of them like a shopping departmental store already met up

with me recently. They not only corrected all of their

shortcomings at once but they have also come up with new and

improved features that are already in the pipeline for their

disabled and elderly customers.  

By far the most significant and promising development to happen

in 2011 for the disabled community is the move to set up disability

committees within the local councils throughout the country.

This is the first time where the local councils and their vital role in

improving the lives of the handicapped has ever been addressed

and targetted by the government.

The way I see it the local councils are so far the best hope

Malaysians with disabilities have in catching up with the rest of

the society.

For it has been the local councils’ neglect of handicapped citizens

rights to basic amenites such as accessibility within and outside

buildings that have stymied their progress in leading normal lives.

Local councils in Selangor have until January 2012 to set up the

special committees which will then be launched by the state

government. 

Access audit surveys to scrutinise public buildings for wheelchair

and blind accessibility have already been successfully conducted

by the Federal, local governments and nongovernmental disability

organisations in the Klang Valley.

The Human Rights Commission of Malaysia is the latest to join the

disability bandwagon.

They told Wheel Power that they will be setting up a special

committee of experts with disabilities together with the planning

and engineering departments of the Petaling Jaya City Council to

make spot checks of as many public buildings on their disabled-

friendly facilities.

Suhakam will also come up with a special booklet based on their

findings. The guide book will advise the public on which places to

patronise as well as avoid for wheelchair-friendly access in a sort

of a “name and shame exercise.”

The Human Rights governmental organisation will also give out

disabilty access best practice awards at the end of 2012.

Happy 2012 everybody from Wheel Power!

THE END

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