PETPOSITIVE regrets the passing away of journalist Claudia Theophilus recently. Here is a story she wrote in Malaysiakini about discrimination that the disabled face in our society that many do not want to admit.
RIP Claudia
Disabled people decry discrimination, insensitivity
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Speaking out at a one-day human rights training programme in Kuala Lumpur, the 30-odd participants poured out their daily frustrations and growing-up pains in a society insensitive to the needs of special people.
"We've had to put up with a lot of discrimination and humiliation in our life, and still are. For example, we often have to fight with security guards to park near to an entrance at shopping malls or hospitals," said Anthony Thanasayan, who was born with a deformed spine and is confined to a wheelchair.
"This is a perennial problem for us because the special lot allotted for the disabled is usually located the furthest from the entrance or it would have been occupied by another car, usually a BMW or Mercedes, belonging to an able-bodied bigshot.
"In developed countries, parking lots for the disabled are right next to the entrance," said the 42-year-old who also has a column on the physically disabled in English daily The Star.
The training was jointly organised by Rawang-based Independent Living and Training Centre and Era Consumer Malaysia in conjunction with the International Day of Disabled Persons themed
'Independent Living and Sustainable Livelihood'.
Era, which has undertaken the role of facilitator for the disabled community, will submit a memorandum to the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) based on today's outcome.
One major discrimination faced by disabled persons was in the job sector where most said they were dropped after the interviews due to their physical appearance although they had basic skills or computer knowledge.
Non-compliance
Anthony said very few buildings in Malaysia complied with the Uniform Building By-Laws 1984 as the disabled community still faced problems gaining access to the post office, banks, government departments and other public places.
The by-law, which comes under the Street, Drainage and Building Act 1974, makes it mandatory for all new buildings to have facilities and amenities as prescribed by the Malaysian standard code of practice for access for disabled people.
Apart from representatives of organisations for the disabled, some of the participants were students of ELC International School in Sungai Buloh who attended the programme as part of their community service project. The school also accommodates children with disabilities.
Independent Living and Training Centre president Francis Siva said that during his conference visits to other countries, he observed a high quality of life for the disabled persons there.
"The public transportation for the disabled was excellent. The disabled community there were treated as equals, unlike here."
A participant known as Christopher, who ferries wheelchair-bound persons to a hospital in Petaling Jaya, became upset when recounting the "hell" he had to endure at the hands of the hospital's security guards over parking.
"I am given hell by the security guards every time I take any disabled person to hospital. When I try to park near the hospital entrance, I am rudely reprimanded and told to park at the very end of the hospital compound which is quite a distance.
"But the BMWs get away with having a shady spot nearest to the entrance... such is the double standard we have to face daily."
Insensitive attitude
Another participant, Frank Lee, also confined to a wheelchair, said he was forced to buy a car because taxis had refused to take him at all.
On common facilities, the participants said that where disabled-friendly toilets are provided by hotels or large establishments, most often they were used as storerooms for cleaning equipment, causing much inconvenience to disabled users.
Some also claimed that they were barred from going to ordinary schools due to their physical disabilities and were instead told to attend special schools.
Recounting
his schooldays, a participant who managed to complete his secondary
education in a 'normal' school, said he had to drink less water while at
school because he was not allowed to go to the school toilet.
Earlier, Suhakam commissioner Prof Hamdan Adnan, in his opening remarks, urged the disabled community to speak up more and be heard demanding for their rights.
"It is not so much neglect of the disabled community but ignorance of practical issues that is the root cause of the society's insensitivity. Many don't even know that there are disabled persons among us."
He also urged the media, particularly the government-owned RTM, to provide airtime to highlight the concerns of the disabled community so that other Malaysians would also be sensitised to their special needs.
An estimated 250,000 persons with various disabilities are currently registered with the Social
Welfare Department, but the United Nations figure is that one in every 10 persons is disabled.
Claudia - journalist with a big heart
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Her death and the way she died was tragic. My heartfelt condolences to her family. I know Claudia has been a great daughter in keeping the family intact after her brother's accident.
I know that her passing is very hard for her family to accept. I wish them strength during these hard times as they await her to arrive home for the last time.
Claudia
was a great journalist and passionate one. When she writes a story, she
puts lots of energy and heart in it, something which I see is missing
in most journalists today.In earlier days, The Sun used to have a special team under Steven Gan, which wrote on many issues of public interest. Claudia was part of this team.
For me, those were the best feature articles published by The Sun. Some members of this team later found their way to Malaysiakini which, also in its early days, highlighted lots of grassroots public interest cases. Claudia fitted very well in this.
I have worked with Claudia on many issues, such as on eviction of plantation workers, urban settlers and as well as the since-aborted mega-incinerator in Broga, Selangor.
Claudia had an interest in the poor, the victims and the downtrodden. She always took the extra step in asking “How can we help these people?”
I remember during the eviction of plantation workers from Bukit Jelutong in Selangor. The workers’ houses were demolished four times and they were losing every court case that came their way.
I told Claudia then that we needed someone to talk to Musa Hitam (right), then chairperson of Guthrie Bhd, just to get us to the negotiation table. Claudia then managed to get a quote from Musa during the Umno general assembly and that story in Malaysiakini paved the way for negotiations with Guthrie and eventually settlement for the workers.
Besides being a passionate journalist, Claudia was also a unionist with the National Union of Journalists. She organised pickets when there was a fallout with the management of The Sun over trade and professional issues in late 2001.
I remembered her fighting hard for her fellow journalists, as well as on her own behalf when she was summarily dismissed for her part in the union activities and took The Sun to court. She used to complain that people are not brave enough to take on their bosses.
Whenever Claudia was involved in any struggle or when she starts writing, she puts in lots of effort. She was very pro-active and worked hard with activists like me to ensure that people get some form of justice.
Most of Claudia’s stories had an element of human interest and feeling in it. They were not dry stuff. Claudia used to get very upset whenever her stories were spiked by her editors.
She used to get very affected by this, and complained whenever her stories did not appear as she wished. But like most good journalists, she found a space and moved on.
Benchmark for journalists
The last I spoke to Claudia was during Christmas. Whenver she returned home from Doha, Qatar, where she was based with Al-Jazeera, she would call to say hello.
She would say it was difficult to meet up because of the situation of her family, but kept saying “we should meet up one of these days”. She wanted to be updated on the many cases of plantation workers and urban settlers with which she she had been involved.
In
her last conversation, she asked about Broga, especially about Alice
Lee - who coordinated the anti-incinerator campaign - and about her
well-being. Claudia told me that Alice (left) is a good activist and that we must continue to support her as she has lots of potential. That is Claudia, always concerned with the issues and the people she has written about.
I hope The Sun and Malaysiakini will reproduce some of the public interest stories she has written. These stories are worth a second read.
We shall miss her and her writings. Claudia has indeed set a high benchmark for other journalists to follow.
S ARUTCHELVAN is secretary-general of Parti Sosialis Malaysia.
TOMORROW: SIGNIFICANT DROP IN ALCOHOL-RELATED DEATHS
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