Feeling the pinch

Thursday, July 17, 2008



Feeling the pinch
Wheel Power

By ANTHONY THANASAYAN

IT HAS been a while since I “read” out some of the wonderful responses that I get from readers of this column. Here are extracts:

I have been an avid reader of Wheel Power since I was sighted. However, I am now totally blind. It was most frustrating not to be able to read the newspapers after I lost my sight.

However, that all changed when I started using a screen reader. I am now able to follow your column once again online with my computer.

Some weeks ago, you wrote about the difficulties faced by disabled Malaysians in applying for free travel passes with RapidKL’s public transport service. I was relieved to hear from my friends that the problem has been settled.

Recently, however, the disabled, as you know, find themselves confronted with another tremendous challenge – inflation.

With spiralling costs, the blind and other handicapped people in our society are having serious hardships in acquiring their basic needs. In a nutshell, it is hard for us to tighten an already firmly tightened belt.

Not long ago, Women, Family and Community Development Minister Datuk Dr Ng Yen Yen increased the special allowance for working disabled people.

This is most commendable. The minister had obviously consi­dered the sharp impact of fuel hikes and inflation on the disabled.

However, I regret to point out that there is still a group of disabled persons that the minister has inadvertently left out. These are persons under the Socso invalidity pension scheme. Socso, as I understand, is under the purview of the Human Resources Ministry.

This group of permanently dis­abled people did not get any raise when civil servants got theirs. They were forgotten in last year’s budget as well. Their last pension review was in 2006.

The tiny raise that the handicapped received then is a pittance compared to our present fuel costs.

As the Finance Ministry is presently in consultation with various disability groups ahead of the upcoming Budget, I sincerely hope that the Socso invalidity pension scheme will be high on its priority list as the current situation is putting a tremendous pressure on pensioners.

Do you know that some disabled pensioners only receive about RM400 a month?

What difference would so little make?

VK

Thanks for your views, VK. You may be interested to know that a group of disabled people and organisations for the handicapped met Dr Ng last month.

They requested that all disabled persons nationwide be granted an additional RM500 (minimum) as a special monthly allowance. This, they said, should be in addition to whatever

financial aid they are presently receiving, in view of the present inflation crisis.

The unanimous view also sti­pulated that even those without jobs – who frequently don’t qualify for financial aid – should also be entitled to such a grant.

The groups insisted on this based on the fact that the disabled, compared to the able-bodied, face a higher cost of living. Their expenses include costs of medications, special aids and devices, and other necessities. Let’s hope that this request becomes a reality soon.

On the group of disabled persons who made a trip to Parliament House to demand that politicians show respect for the disabled in their speeches, (able-bodied) DW from Cheras, Kuala Lumpur, wrote:

Our MPs should treat every disabled person with respect.

People who think that they are infallible cannot be more mistaken. Sooner or later, we will all be frail and infirm and be confronted with some form of disability. It would be foolish for anyone to think that he or she will remain young and strong forever.

Syabas to all you brave souls in wheelchairs for taking the time and trouble to educate us on this fact of life.

Finally, here is very positive feedback from one participant of an animal-assisted therapy session held at the Selangor Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals in Kuala Lumpur last month:

I thoroughly enjoyed the visit by the members of Petpositive. As an able-bodied person, I benefited even more than the disabled and elderly persons who came to our animal shelter to care for our puppies and kittens.

The happiness and lovely smiles on their faces said a thousand words! The healing touch of an animal to a human is truly magnificent. Animals see no differences in human beings. Neither should we.

Christine Chin
SPCA chairman
Selangor

Disabled woman lodges report on abuse

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

The Malay Mail

Call to probe other homes
By Najiah Najib

THE adviser of a training centre for the disabled, where an inmate claimed she was abused by the operator, has urged the police to “thoroughly” investigate the matter and at the same time probe other centres for similar abuses.

“I urge the police to be very thorough in their investigation.

Since this issue has cropped up, it is best that the police start looking into the operations of other charity homes as well,” said Petaling Jaya City councillor Anthony Thanasayan, who is also the adviser to Independent Living and Training Centre (ILTC) in Taman Garing, Rawang.

Wheelchair-bound inmate A.

Kogilavani, 29, claimed in her police report that she was abused on several occasions by the wheelchair- bound centre operator, Gurdip Kaur Pritam Singh, 47.

“It is good that the matter is being looked into.

‘‘We should take this as a lesson to learn some things about charity homes that we may not be aware of before,” said the 47-year-old who is wheelchair-bound himself.

Anthony said it was important for the police to carry out a full investigation on ILTC and find out what actually took place.

As the adviser to ILTC, Anthony said he would give his full cooperation to the police and help them in any way.

On the allegations against the operator, Anthony said he would be shocked if the allegations were true as he had known Gurdip Kaur and her husband, G. Sivasangararao, for a long time.

“The couple are both disabled people themselves, so they understand the challenges that a handicapped person has to go through.

There may be some yelling off and on within the centre, but I don’t believe the couple would resort to violence.” Anthony said ILTC may not be perfect, but they do a good job.

The centre had a good track record and its operators had helped a lot of disabled people, especially in Rawang, he said.

He added that ILTC was also one of the very few homes that allowed its residents to stay there for free.

He advised the centre operators to make their policies clearer, and to not accept people they can’t handle.

“Disabled people don’t always get the support they need, and may not socialise as much as ablebodied people, so their perspective of things could be different.”

False Allegations Against ILTC

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

False Allegations Against ILTC

As a President of ILTC, I would like to inform that the A. Kogilavani's allegations towards ILTC was false information.

On behalf of ILTC we already very clearly made a police report against her for tanishing our good society and waiting for full investigation from the police department.

We will keep up the latest development information.

Thanks

Mr. Francis Siva
President of ILTC

_____________________________________________________

View below the article from Malay Mail

Malay Mail July 15th 2008

Allegations false, says councillor

SELAYANG municipal councillor Gurdip Kaur Pritam Singh yesterday refuted A. Kogilavani's allegations that she had abused her on several occasions.

SELAYANG municipal councillor Gurdip Kaur Pritam Singh yesterday refuted A. Kogilavani's allegations that she had abused her on several occasions.

"These allegations are false," said the 47-year-old woman, who runs the Independent Living and Training Centre (ILTC) in Taman Garing, Rawang, with her husband.

She told Malay Mail that Kogilavani, 29, had made the claims probably because the latter was unhappy with the training classes conducted at the centre. “She just wants an easy way out of the centre,” said Gurdip.

She said Kogilavani first came to the centre over a year ago, but left shortly after because she had wanted to be with her father who was suffering from diabetes.

“You know how it is with fathers and daughters. But after her father passed away, it seemed that the family couldn’t cope with her, so they contacted the centre and asked us to take her back,” said Gurdip.

She said Kogilavani returned to the centre earlier this year and was given lessons in computer, sewing, handicraft and English language.

“We have different classes every week, and computer classes in between. On weekends, they are encouraged to clean their own rooms.On Sundays, everyone would do gardening.

“We gave Kogilavani a sewing kit to work with but while everyone else was keen to learn, she didn’t seem interested. She cried a lot. She also slept in class,” said Gurdip.

She said the inmates had it quite easy at ILTC, adding that classes were free. She said sometimes, the centre would organise outdoor programmes for the inmates such as going to the movies or eating out.

Gurdip said before Kogilavani, the centre never had any problems with any other inmates.She said some former inmates even kept her updated on their progress in their working life.

Asked if she would lodge a report to counter Kogilavani’s allegations, Gurdip said: “No, I don’t want to do that. She’s like a daughter to me. Also, she’s an OKU (orang kurang upaya or disabled person) and I don’t want to make her life harder than it is.

“This is a small matter and I’ve got nothing to hide.”

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Disabled woman lodges report on abuse
By Najiah Najib and Pauline AlmeidaA

WHEELCHAIR-BOUND inmate of a training centre in Rawang has lodged a police report against the operator of the centre, also disabled, for allegedly abusing her physically. In one incident, the victim claimed shelost a tooth after she was punched in the face.

In her report, lodged at the Ipoh police headquarters last Tuesday, A. Kogilavani, 29, said her abuser is also wheelchair-bound.Speaking to Malay Mail, the alleged victim from Menglembu, Perak, said the woman was recently sworn in as a Selayang Municipal councillor.

Kogilavani claimed the incidents took place at the Independent Living and Training Centre (ILTC) in Taman Garing, Rawang, where she was an inmate since February. I

t is learnt that the centre was established eight years ago by the woman, Gurdip Kaur Pritam Singh, and her husband, G. Sivasangararao, also known as Siva, to help disabled people learn living skills like sewing, computer, handicraft and English.

Kogilavani said she enrolled in ILTC in June 2006, with the hope of learning how to cope with her disabilities better so she could find work.

However, she said she and the other inmates were instead told to do housework such as sweeping and mopping floors, cleaning the bathroom, feeding and grooming the dog, gardening, cooking and doing the laundry.

“There was so much work to be done everyday. I didn’t go to the centre to learn housework, so I decided to return home in July 2006.” She said the reason she left was also to be with her sickly father who was suffering from diabetes. Her father, whose legs had been amputated, died in January last year. After being encouraged by her uncle, Kogilavani returned to ILTC in February this year. However, she claimed she and the other trainees only underwent training during the first month.

“After that, the other trainees, who were living outside, stopped coming for the classes. As I was the only student left, the trainers stopped coming to the centre to teach,” she claimed.

She said as there were no more classes, she had intended to return to Ipoh but was held back by the centre operators.It was then that her nightmare began, she said.

“Once, I was cooking rice in the kitchen and forgot to turn off the switch after the rice had cooked. Just then, Gurdip approached me and noticed my mistake. She scolded me, saying that it could cause an electric shock if I didn’t turn the switch off.

“Suddenly, she punched me in the chin, so hard that a tooth from my lower jaw fell out. Blood gushed out of my mouth,” claimed Kogilavani, adding that she was then told by Gurdip to just clean herself up.Kogilavani claimed another incident took place about a week later.

This time she was arranging the inmates’ shoes on a rack when a sole fell off. Gurdip then approached her and scolded her for not knowing how to arrange the shoes properly. Gurdip then allegedly hit her with the sole that had fallen off. Kogilavani also claimed she not only had to endure physical abuse from Gurdip, but verbal abuse from Siva as well.

She said Siva was also wheelchairbound.

While Gurdip was paralysed from waist down, Siva was paralysed in his upper body and couldn’t move his hands much.Kogilavani said the latest abuse that took place was between June 30 and July 1, when she tried to run away from the centre.

“I sneaked out of the centre at 5.20am on a wheelchair and went to the bus stop a kilometre away.

A woman from the centre, Thevanai, spotted me and telephoned her husband Murugan who is a friend of Gurdip and Siva.

“Murugan arrived soon after. I told him that I couldn’t bear Gurdip and Siva’s bullying any longer. He coaxed me to stay on, saying that he would advise the centre operators to stop picking on me,” she claimed.

However, Kogilavani claimed that when they returned to the centre at 6.30am, Murugan turned the tables on her.

“When he told Gurdip and Siva that I had attempted to run away, Gurdip told him to beat me up. Murugan took a large stick and whacked me on my arms, thighs, back and the back of my head.” Kogilavani alleged she received another beating from Murugan three days later, under the couple’s orders, when she again tried to run away from the centre.

Depressed, Kogilavani said she swallowed a mothball that night to try to commit suicide. When the couple found out what she had done, they immediately contacted her family to take her
back.