Yen Yen: Plan for disabled to get better help

Thursday December 18, 2008

Yen Yen: Plan for disabled to get better help

KUALA LUMPUR: The Women, Family and Community Development Ministry will come up with a wider set of categories for the disabled in an effort to channel help to them more effectively.

The categories, which group disabled people according to their conditions, will enable the ministry to allocate funds and execute specific plans to help in their welfare.

“There are currently limited OKU (Orang Kurang Upaya) categories based on the records from the Statistics Department,” said Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ng Yen Yen.

“We want to widen the scope so that the OKU would be better represented,” she said at a media briefing on the second meeting of the National Council for the OKU yesterday.

She added that the ministry also discussed plans to improve special education during the meeting.

During the council’s first meeting on Aug 14, five committees were set up to look into registration, quality of life and care, accessibility, education and employment for the disabled.

“We are also coordinating with other relevant ministries such as the Housing and Local Government Ministry to further aid the disabled,” Dr Ng said.

She added that the provisions under laws such as the Housing Act and Local Council Act which protect the rights of the disabled must be followed to improve their quality of life.

Disbaled Need Jobs, Not Charity

December 17, 2008 16:17 PM

Disbaled Need Jobs, Not Charity
By: Ramjit

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 17 (Bernama)-- The disabled in the country need decent jobs and business opportunities rather than charity, donations and handouts, according to a disabled leader.

President of the Independent Living and Training Centre (ILTC) G. Francis Siva said most of the disabled people very capable and talented and needed the right guidance and incentive to live independently.

Francis who runs a well equipped training centre for the disabled in Rawang near here, lost the use of his lower extremities due to an accident.

He said it was the norm in Malaysian society to give donations and handouts to the disabled.

While this was praiseworthy, it was nevertheless not effective in overcoming the challeges faced by the handicapped.Francis pointed that the disabled were people with dignity and wanted to contribute to the country's development.

On the ILTC, he said that since its inception eight years ago, the centre had trained some 120 people who were now leading normal live with their families.

The cost of running the centre was around RM96,000 per year and it received about RM30,000 annual grant from the government.

The services provided by the centre included counselling and motivation, providing disability information and advice, computer training, handicraft making and other self-development programmes.

BERNAMA

Employ The Disabled

December 15, 2008

Employ The Disabled
By: Ramjit

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 15 (Bernama) -- Private organisations have been urged to employ disabled persons to enable them to earn a living.

"I hope private organisations will employ more disabled persons. There is no wrong in taking them, they too have skills and some are very proactive in their jobs," said Senator Datuk Yip Kum Fook while debating the 2009 Supply Bill in the Dewan Negara here today.

The senator said the private sector should cooperate to help the disabled to get work in view of the fact that the Public Service Department only allocates a one per cent intake from among the disabled.

BERNAMA