WHEEL POWER: Merdeka Moments For Everyone!

AS Malaysians prepare to celebrate the 55^th birthday of our blessed nation tomorrow, I thought it would be a good idea to come up with a random Merdeka wish-list for the occasion in this week’s column.

All of it is based on my personal experience having lived with a handicap for almost as long as our country’s history.

Though many of the issues depend on governmental intervention, there are an equal number of things that ordinary folks like you and I can do to raise the quality of lives of disabled Malaysians in our society.

·       Caregivers for those ageing with disabilities: With improvements in healthcare, more Malaysians are now living well into the seventies. This good news also includes people with disabilities (PWDs). However, it is a medical fact that PWDs feel the effects of ageing faster than their non disabled counterparts – especially for persons who are physically disabled. In overseas countries the government provides 24-hour caregivers at their expense for those who are profoundly handicapped like persons who are paralysed from their chest and neck down. This is especially critical for disabled people whose family caregivers have passed on. The countries use the profit from their natural resources to look after their citizens that they believe is their inalienable right. By doing so, these individuals can still lead independent and active lives in society. This Merdeka, I wish that our politicians and lawmakers will start thinking along in these lines too as disability will affect us all one day. They must come up with strong and workable policies for older Malaysians who need care. This is especially important considering the fact that our country is expected to reach an ageing nation status by 2035 with the number of people above the age of 60 making up 15% of the population. And whilst they are at it, the authorities should seriously look into making foreign workers more affordable and available to the disabled, especially the poor instead of only the rich and business community. For a start extra costs and others should be borne by the government until handicapped persons can be fully supported by them. Though such a programme can start in disabled centres first it must trickle down to individuals eventually. We need to move away from institutionalising people and go into normal home living instead. Foreign workers for the disabled and elderly should also be given special training for their task. Trainers and resource persons can be from overseas as well as senior disabled persons locally themselves. By doing all these, no Malaysians need to worry any more about being disabled or becoming old one day because we will have a nation that supports us during each and every stage of our lives.

·       Local councils and accessibility: It is the job of every local councils in the country to get into the act of providing disabled-friendly access in towns and cities; not the welfare department. I wish that all local councils will set up a monthly committee of disabled persons together with their respective technical experts to get this going. The disabled themselves are needed to check each facility personaly for its user-friendly designs and advise on what need changes and what doesn’t. And when they are done, please don’t allow them to be abused such as car parks, toilets (used as store rooms) etc.

·       Telephone and Internet provider companies: Please try and outdo yourselves to come up with the best and most affordable plan for subscribers with disabilities. Your goal should ultimately be to ensure that every disabled person in the country will be able to use the Internet/phone for a higher quality of living. The mobile phone can be a godsend to PWDs in an emergency from falling down in the bathroom to having a car breakdown in the city. The Internet can tremendously help them to catch up on vital information about their disabilities and how to cope with it to even finding a job from home.                   

·       Random acts of kindness:  

1.    Pay the dinner bill for a blind customer in a shop.

2.    Offer to do the marketing for an elderly disabled person living alone.

3.    Wash his car or help him clean his home or room periodically.

4.    Take a disabled person to a movie.

5.    Read for the blind.

6.    Help service a wheelchair for a physically handicapped.

7.    Walk his dog or help clean his aquarium.

8.    Wheel an elderly person to the park.

9.    Transport a disabled person to the clinic or hospital for their checkups and offer to collect his/her medicine once a month from the hospital.

10. Complain to the management when you find a handicapped facility neglected. Encourage restaurants to provide wheelchair-friendly ramps and toilets.   

Happy Merdeka everybody!

The End

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