Gurdip wants more facilities for the handicapped

Friday, September 12, 2008

The Star - Metro

Gurdip wants more facilities for the handicapped
Story and photos by STUART MICHAEL

MY COUNCILLOR
Name: Gurdip Kaur Pritam Singh
Age: 47Status: Married with one daughter
NGO status: Independent Living and Training Centre (ILTC) secretary, cofounder of ILTC and a volunteer in Sungai Buloh Hospital.
Area of coverage: Zone 16 (Kampung Rawang Tin, Kampung Kuala Garing, Taman Sri Rawang, Taman Garing Jaya, Taman Sri Garing, Taman Garing, Taman Garing Utama, Taman Kota Emerald, Kampung Sungai Dua Tambahan, Taman Pelangi, Taman Belmas Johan and Taman Idaman).
Present residence and office: ILTC No 76, Taman Garing 48000, Rawang
Contact number: 03-60936292, 012- 6956786.

GURDIP Kaur Pritam Singh, is a well-known individual in fighting for disabled rights in Rawang.

And Gurdip, who is now the Selayang Municipal Council councillor, wants the Selayang constituency to be more disabled-friendly.

“First, we have to make the people and the council understand the problems of disabled people. Then, we can educate them,” she said.

“In Rawang, there are no public toilets for the disabled and that’s the reason many disabled people do not leave their houses.

“Banks, shopping malls and the public transport system should be disabled-friendly as it will help people like us to go around.
Enjoying their time: Gurdip and her husband, Francis Siva, enjoying a moment in their garden at the ILTC in Taman Garing, Rawang.

“I want to ensure the Rawang new town is disabled-friendly and urged the council not to give Certificate of Fitness for Occupation (CF) to shopping malls, shops, post office and other public places if it is not equipped with facilities for the disabled, ’’ said Gurdip, who stays at Independent Living and Training Centre (ILTC) in Taman Garing.

Gurdip, 47, who is the ILTC secretary, is married to ILTC president Francis Siva and has a daughter, who also stays with them.

Gurdip is in charge of Zone 15 that covers Kampung Rawang Tin, Kampung Kuala Garing, Taman Sri Rawang, Taman Garing Jaya, Taman Sri Garing, Taman Garing, Taman Garing Utama, Taman Kota Emerald, Kampung Sungai Dua Tambahan, Taman Pelangi, Taman Belmas Johan and Taman Idaman in Rawang.

Since Gurdip is staying in Taman Garing, it is easy for her to handle matters near her area and does not need to be so mobile like the rest of the councillors.

“As a newly-elected councillor, I will meet the residents associations in my area and ask about the problems in their areas.

“Then, I will ensure that this matter is brought to the attention of the Selayang Municipal Council president Zainal Abidin Azim during the council meetings.

“Being a councillor is new to me, I am learning each day on how to solve issues and bring up matters.

“One thing for sure, I will do my best to see that people’s interest are taken care of and welcome anyone to seek my help,’’ said Gurdip.

Big challenge

Thursday September 11, 2008

The Star - Lifestyle

Big challenge
Wheel Power: By Anthony Thanasayan

For the disabled participants at Beijing’s Paralympics Games, the event is often regarded as the highlight of their lives.

AS you read this, as many as 4,000 disabled athletes (including a dozen Malaysians) are taking part in Beijing’s Paralympics Games.

The event, held once every four years, traditionally takes place about three weeks after the Olympics. It is also held in the same country that the Olympic Games took place.

To the disabled sportsmen and sportswomen involved, the Paralympics is often regarded as the most important event in their lives.(From left) Oscar Pistorious of South Africa, Heros Marai of Italy and Christoph Bausch of Switzerland in the heats of the men’s 100m T44 classification race at the 2008 Beijing Paralympic Games.

To me, the event is not only about who wins what and how well they performed. That is important, of course. But what is more important is how a particular sporting event has contributed to the people, and how it will continue to change their lives.

How will life change for the disabled community after major sporting events are over? BBC Online’s web page gave a peek into the lives of the handicapped in China.

The online page’s reporter followed an Olympic volunteer who used a wheelchair and travelled across Beijing by bus and subway, before the Games. The exposure made him realise how serious disability issues are in the country.

Although ramps and lifts were newly added for the Paralympics, this wasn’t so in other towns and villages in China.

The 82.7 million people with disabilities in China still face discrimination and prejudice, which make their daily lives difficult.

Universities in China are still reluctant to take in students with handicaps.

Human Rights Watch based in New York says that “8.58 million employable people with a disability in China did not have jobs last year.”

This even though the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities laws had been enacted and ratified not long ago.

“So far these protections have meant little to (disabled) persons (and) their advocates in China to be able to fairly compete for employment,” the organisation pointed out.

Despite this dismal outlook, the BBC says the good news is that the Chinese government has made a big effort to educate its citizens on how to talk to the disabled athletes during the Paralympics.

One pamphlet advises locals to be helpful, but not too pushy. It also suggests they should be more sensitive to those with disabilities.

Over here in Malaysia, it was announced that we had won the bid to host the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) world general assembly in Kuala Lumpur. The event will be held in November next year.

Even though this is joyous news for the disabled community, many of us are concerned about the issue of accessibility for the international disabled guests when they arrive in KL.

We know what a nightmare it is for a wheelchair user to move around in the capital.

Will the respective local councils be able to tackle these problems by the time our overseas guests arrive next year?

Or will our disabled visitors be restricted in their movements and told where they can go in the city?

Will they stay in posh hotels (with accessible shiny toilets) during their stay or will they be allowed to mingle with the rest of us and have a chance to see what Malaysia is really like?

If nothing is done from now until November next year, will our disabled guests want to come to Malaysia again?

And how would our disabled citizens benefit from such a visit? That is what I really like to know.

MPS issues warning to billboard owners

Thursday, September 11, 2008

The Star - Metro

MPS issues warning to billboard owners
By OH ING YEEN

OWNERS of expired billboards and banners are urged to pay up quick or the billboards will be taken down, said Selayang Muni-cipal Council (MPS) councillor Gurdip Kaur.

“They should have the approval of the council before putting up the banners and billboards. This is a form of illegal advertisement,” said Gurdip.

“I have noticed the problem of illegal banners and billboards since I lived in Rawang nine years ago but there was nothing I could do then. Now, as a councillor, I’m able to do my duty and take down the illegal advertisements,” said the Zone 16 councillor.
Tear them down: Enforcement officers dismantling illegal billboards and banners along Jalan Kuala Garing while Gurdip (second from left) looks on.

She said safety was another reason for taking down the banners and billboards.

“Five days ago, a driver almost got into an accident when a poster that was blown off by strong winds landed on his car ,” she said.

More than 10 MPS enforcement officers took down illegal banners and billboards starting from the ones in Jalan Kuala Garing, Rawang. They will be continuing the operation to rid Selayang of illegal banners and billboards.

MPS assistant enforcement officer C. Paramasivam said that this was the first large-scale operation carried out to tear down illegal banners and billboards.

“Normally the owners of illegal banners will be issued a RM500 summons but many have been there for too long.

“Some of the billboards we took down have been there for six months since the licences expired while some owners only paid during the first time they applied for the licence and did not renew it. They have breached Section 5 of the MPS advertising by-law for advertising without licence,” said Paramasivam, who is also the MPS Rawang 1 zone chief.

MPS assistant enforcement officer Megat Ainul Fadzlil said that they normally conducted these operations five to six times a year.

“The billboard or banner owners will be given a three-day deadline after they were issued a notice to renew their licences.

“However, things are slow during the fasting month as we are more focused on checking the Ramadan bazaar licences,” he said, adding that approved banners and billboards would have the MPS sticker.

Gurdip, who is in the tourism, finance and traffic subcommittees in the council, also plans to tackle issues such as potholes, lack of street lights as well as ramps for the disabled.

“After the petrol hike, the trains are packed and it is difficult for the disabled to get into them. I’m also looking into quotations for bubble lifts,” said the secretary of the Independent Living and Training Centre (ILTC).

Free parking for the disabled

Tuesday September 9, 2008

The Star - Metro

Free parking for the disabled

THE disabled people living in the Subang Jaya municipality have been urged to apply for free parking stickers at the council.

They are also requested to carry their cards at all time to be eligible for their privileges.

Apply now: Yeoh showing the stickers for the disabled while Adnan looks on.

According to the Petaling welfare office some 298 disabled people in Subang Jaya are registered with it, but only 23 of them had applied for the council’s free parking stickers this year.

Subang Jaya assemblyman Hannah Yeoh said not many disabled people were aware of the stickers.

“This is not a new thing as the council introduced it in 2006,” said Yeoh during a press briefing together with the MPSJ president Datuk Adnan Md Ikshan.

“The stickers will enable the disabled to park their cars for free at public parking spaces that are managed by the MPSJ, so that they need not go through the inconvenience of paying at the parking meters.”

The stickers are not applicable at private complexes or shopping malls.

It is learnt that only seven disabled people had applied for the stickers in 2006, while in 2007, only 17 applications were received.

Yeoh said this was one of the first steps undertaken towards making things more convenient for the disabled.

Adnan added that since 1995, there was a compulsory by-law for any submissions of development order and building plan to include facilities for the disabled.

“However, it was only enforced two years ago,” he said.

Yeoh said she would be having a meeting on Nov 1 with the disabled community in Subang Jaya to be held at the MPSJ building.

“I’ll arrange for some councillors to be around during the meeting so that they can listen to the hardships faced by the disabled and work towards a solution.”

For more information on the stickers call Yeoh’s assistant Cherrinee Lee at 012-291 3358 or e-mail: cherrinee@gmail.com.

Jeanne visits paralympic team

Monday, September 8, 2008

The Star - News

Jeanne visits paralympic team
By CELESTE FONG

BEIJING: Developers have been urged to design more disabled-friendly housing projects.

Datin Seri Jeanne Abdullah, the wife of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, who was touched by the disabled-friendly facilities she saw at the Paralympic Games Village here, said: “We should do more for the disabled.

“I hope schools will encourage and teach children to help (the disabled) if they see a disabled (person). We should change our mindset to be more caring,” she added.

Pointing at the disabled-friendly ATM machine booth, Jeanne said the facilities in the village showed the level of consideration for the disabled.

She was also awed by the spirit of the paralympians and the courage displayed by them, saying that Malaysians could emulate them.

“This is what we should be doing in our country,” she said, hoping that Malaysians could raise the level of consideration for the disabled.

Jeanne, the patron of the Malaysian Paralympic Council, was accompanied by Youth and Sports Minister Datuk Ismail Sabri Yaakob, Malaysian Ambassador to China Datuk Syed Norulzaman Kamarulzaman, Kuala Lumpur Mayor Datuk Ab Hakim Borhan and National Sports Council director-general Datuk Zolkples Embong to the games village here.

On the Malaysian paralympians, Jeanne, who met them in the village, said Abdullah had conveyed his best wishes to them.

The Malaysian paralympians will begin their respective events today.