MBPJ Breaks Down Barriers For People With Disabilities

StarMetro Friday December 14, 2012

MBPJ holds event to create caring society

Story and photo by VINCENT TAN
vincent.tan@thestar.com.my

A favourite figure: A clown making balloon sculptures for the children from the Kota Damansara lowcost housing area who came to participate in the celebrations.

NEARLY 300 celebrants, both able and the disabled, gathered at the ground level entrance of 1Utama’s New Wing complex to celebrate the International Day of Persons with Disabilities recently.
The event was organised by the Petaling Jaya City Council (MBPJ) with the international theme “Removing barriers to create an inclusive and accessible society for all”.

Health, Plantation Workers, Poverty and Compassionate Government committee chairman Dr Xavier Jeyakumar officiated at the launch of the celebrations, together with Damansara Utama assemblyman Dr Cheah Wing Yin and acting Petaling Jaya mayor Puasa Md Taib. MBPJ councillors Anthony Thanasayan and Azri Mohamad Arish were also present.

In the opening speeches, Anthony said he was overwhelmed by the large crowd which had turned up for the celebrations.

“We are here today not to be ashamed of our disabilities. We do not have to hide, but are here to celebrate,” said Anthony who also related his experience growing up as a wheelchair-bound child in a city with a lack of disabled-friendly facilities. The councillor now heads an MBPJ committee which looks into infrastructure and facilities issues faced by disabled persons.

Dr Xavier praised MBPJ’s efforts in turning Petaling Jaya into a “barrier-free” city, with initiatives such as the free transit service for disabled persons, tactile walkways for the visually-impaired, as well as free medical treatment at MBPJ community clinics, among others.

“I have also been approached by several non-governmental organisations and agencies, where they are willing to help fund infrastructure for the disabled in the low-cost housing areas. This is a good idea, as both the state and the NGOs become jointly responsible for the area’s disabled facilities,”said Dr Xavier.

In addition, he added that he would be pushing for a joint fund financed by local authorities to push for such projects.

It was not just all speeches, as the audience was also treated to a line dance performance by members from MAB (Malaysian Association of the Blind) and a musical recital on the guitar and harmonica.
Nor Hidayah Abd Halim, 24, blind since birth, now works a telephone receptionist with the MAB. Nonetheless, she said a day such as this was good in further raising the profile of disabled persons in society.

“By and large, people respect us for what we do, but at times, it is also difficult to fight through people’s prejudice when they look down on you,” said Nor Hidayah.

The International Day of Persons with Disabilities has been promoted by the United Nations every Dec 3 since 1998, is aimed at promote an understanding of disability issues and mobilise support for the dignity, rights and well-being of persons with disabilities.

PET+BLOGSPOT is the ONLINE BLOG of the Malaysian Animal-Assisted Therapy for the Disabled and Elderly Association or Petpositive. Our stories are CURRENT, ACCURATE and RELIABLE. We offer both local and foreign news on animals, disability and the elderly. PET+BLOGSPOT was first established in October 2007. Our hits since then are now 150,000 and ever increasing! PET+BLOGSPOT is updated daily. Kindly note that views expressed in PET+BLOGSPOT are not necessarily those of PETPOSITIVE. You may also visit our Webpage by browsing: www.petpositive.com.my You can also find us in Facebook under PETPOSITIVE EMPOWERMENT. Please sign up as a FOLLOWER of this Blog if you haven't done so already in order to show us your kind support for our work. Thank you!

Capt Karim's Letter In Yesterday's New Straits Times Press

New Straits Times Press Letters 2007/12/10

Disabled people: Little done to help them access facilities, transport.

By Captain Abdul Karim Stuart Russell For Access and Inclusion for the Disabled, Kuala Lumpur. (Pix by aNt)

THE International Day of Disabled Persons on Dec 3 was yet another wonderful opportunity to promote understanding and increase public awareness of disability issues, and to promulgate the importance of integration and the well-being of people with disabilities.

However, here in Malaysia, one year after Access and Inclusion for the Disabled (AID) wrote a letter regarding the 2006 International Day of Disabled Persons, nothing of any substance has changed. Consider, for example, the issue of disabled-friendly public transport facilities and buildings.

Accessibility to the majority of facilities, such as buildings, public transport, footpaths and road crossings, even some of those that were recently set up, is not possible since they have not been properly designed to make them usable by everyone.

Universal access to buildings is still a novelty and is by no means universally available. Some buildings built in the past 12 months are totally inaccessible to people in wheelchairs.

RapidKL even introduced so-called disabled-accessible buses, but these vehicles have been designed incorrectly, so that the area designed to accommodate two persons using wheelchairs occupies almost half of the available floor space, and there are only two seats in this half of the bus.

In Penang, the situation is worse because the new RapidPenang buses are universally inaccessible.

Over the past 18 months, AID has been meeting regularly to discuss the routing and accessibility options for the Penang monorail with Melewar Integrated Engineering and we are confident that they have addressed the requirements of the disabled within their monorail design.

We sincerely hope that whichever company constructs the Penang Monorail will ensure that the monorail system is accessible to all, and that the routing and stops will serve all the people who live along its route.

Most pavements are still not accessible to persons using wheelchairs, the blind, and the elderly. There are sometimes ramps of sorts, but more often than not, they are too steep or the kerbs are too high, there are obstructions on pavements, such as lamp posts, sign posts, non-flush manholes, etc.

Tactile markings for the blind are sometimes installed, though some of these do not follow required specifications. We observed recently, in Kuala Lumpur, a new pavement 1.2m wide where the tactile markings turned 90 degrees left to within few centimetres of a wall, then 90 degrees right, 90 degrees right again and finally 90 degrees left. All this go around a grating 60 sq cm.

End

Click HERE for Karim's letter in Malaysiakini.

PET+BLOGSPOT NOTE: Captain Karim is Adviser to PETPOSITIVE and also Secretary for the Support Group Society for the Blind of Malaysia or Supporteam. Both societies are based in Kuala Lumpur.