Helping hand

Thursday March 12, 2009





Helping hand
WHEEL POWER
By ANTHONY THANASAYAN

Crash course gives disabled group a head start.

IT IS always encouraging to hear how Malaysians with disabilities are being helped. The latest news I received is a wonderful initiative to help about 30 disabled women familiarise themselves with computers. This is to empower them to have a better quality of life through information technology.

Wheel Power spoke to Thomas Low last week.

Thomas became disabled after he was accidentally dropped as a child. The fall caused him to suffer from a condition called juvenile stroke which affected the right side of his body, causing a limp in his right leg.

Thomas is the project manager of an intensive three-month programme called Small Office Home Office (Soho).

The pilot project was organised and sponsored by eHomemakers and the Women, Family and Community Development Ministry. eHomemakers is an NGO which assists single mothers to work from home to enable them to become self-reliant. Thomas’s job is to oversee the training of the 30 participants in the project which ended early this year.

“There were so many challenges to overcome before the training could even start,” he said.

First, he had to find and identify women who were wheelchair users. Soho was also keen on working with people who use crutches for mobility.

“Finding them was not easy,” Thomas recalled. “I did some active canvassing and approached disability organisations, attended functions for the handicapped, and made call after call to recruit participants for the course.”

The initial reaction from the women wasn’t welcoming either. Many were sceptical about the training.

“Some even thought I was a conman,” said Thomas, with a laugh.

The training was free, with meals and refreshments included.

A daily transport allowance was also given to each participant. The course included soft skills training to give the women a better chance of securing jobs.

Areas covered included confidence-building and phone etiquette.

The programme also covered stuff such as Office, Skype, Facebook, blogging and e-mail. The participants were also taught about nasty viruses that could invade computers and how to prevent such virus attacks.

Locating a disabled-friendly venue with 30 units of computers with Internet facilities was another major hurdle.

“I approached cyber cafes and computer training centres but almost all of them gave me the cold shoulder,” said Thomas.

Finally, it was the Young Women Christian Association (YWCA) Kuala Lumpur that rallied to their aid.

“They had the right place, ample parking space, and disabled-friendly facilities in their building,” said Thomas.

“They had a large classroom with as many as 30 computers at our disposal. They even had a spacious bedroom for those who wished to stay in. The YWCA staff were very accommodating, making changes here and there to suit the participants’ special needs,” he added.

Participants came from as far as Kajang, Bangi and Rawang in Selangor.

All 30 disabled women are now looking for job openings.

If you can help these women, please contact eHomemakers ( 03-7726 5271 ).

MINI BUDGET 2009 SPEECH BY MALAYSIAN DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER YAB DATO' SRI MOHD NAJIB TUN ABD RAZAK IN THE DEWAN RAKYAT ON 10 MARCH 2009

MINI BUDGET 2009 SPEECH BY MALAYSIAN DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER YAB DATO' SRI MOHD NAJIB TUN ABD RAZAK IN THE DEWAN RAKYAT ON 10 MARCH 2009

SPEECH BY

YAB DATO’ SRI MOHD. NAJIB TUN ABDUL RAZAK
DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER AND
MINISTER OF FINANCE

IN INTRODUCING
THE SUPPLEMENTARY SUPPLY (2009) BILL 2009

IN THE DEWAN RAKYAT
10 MARCH 2009

Creating Job Opportunities in the Public Sector

25. The Government will recruit 63,000 staff to fill vacancies and serve as contract officers in various Government agencies. For this, the Government will:

First: Expedite recruitment for 50,000 vacant posts at the support and professional level in the Federal civil service. For vacancies in the support group, the Public Services Commission will delegate authority to recruit to the relevant agencies; and

Second: Create additional 13,000 jobs for officers on a contract basis in Government agencies, as follows:

1. Recruit 4,000 officers on short-term service with minimum Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia qualification and monthly salary of RM1,200;
2. Recruit 1,000 graduates as school teachers on contract basis with monthly salary of RM2,000;
3. Recruit a total of 800 contract workers to strengthen the implementation of Program Cari under the Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development for a period of six months to a year;
4. Recruit 1,000 Public Health Assistants on contract basis in local authorities for control and prevention of infectious diseases, such as dengue;
5. Recruit a total of 4,500 contract officers as enumerators in the Department of Statistics to carry out population census; and
6. Recruit 1,700 nurses and health support staff in the Ministry of Health.

Assisting the Less Fortunate

42. In Budget 2009, an allocation of RM830 million was provided to implement social safety net programmes to ensure the well-being of the less fortunate, including the elderly, disabled and single mothers. The Government will increase financial assistance and support staff to manage the welfare of this group. In the Second Package, an additional allocation of RM20 million will be provided to improve the facilities of daycare centres for the elderly, strengthen the management of women shelter homes and increase facilities for childcare centres.

Decision on disabled-friendly bus stops next month

Tuesday March 10, 2009




Decision on disabled-friendly bus stops next month

THE Penang Government will decide in a month’s time whether to give the green light to Rapid Penang for the construction of disabled-friendly bus stops once the company submits its proposal.

Penang Local Government, Traffic Management and Environment Committee chairman Chow Kon Yeow said the bus stops needed to have proper facilities to complement the new 200 disabled- friendly buses which would arrive in bat-ches from May until the end of the year.

On Rapid Penang’s predicament over the uncertainty of whether the state authorities would approve the use of five new depots to place its new fleet of buses, he said the matter was negotiable and that he would follow up on the matter.

Rapid Penang chief executive officer Azhar Ahmad had said that the company had not received a reply from the autho-rities.

Chow told newsmen yesterday that Rapid Penang was currently using the Sungai Nibong bus terminal and three other areas belonging to the Penang Municipal Council located in Lorong Kulit, Balik Pulau and Tanjung Bungah as its depots.

“All the 200 buses are not going to arrive in May and therefore I feel the existing sites can still accommodate the buses.

“If I’m not mistaken, the company is in the final stage of looking at a piece of land belonging to the Malaysian Resources Corp Bhd,” he said.

He said Rapid Penang had asked the state government to lease these areas for a long period (30 years) before it builds a proper depot.

“The company is also asking for a nominal fee to be charged and we understand that in order to subsidise public transportation, costs need to be cut,” he said, ad-ding that Rapid Penang had not paid rental for its existing depots since July 2007.

Chow said the state had put on hold the idea to set up its own bus company.

“Now, only 8% of the people use buses. It is not advisable to compete with another company until the percentage rises to 35%,” he said.

LIVE Interviewed on The Breakfast Show

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

LIVE Interviewed on The Breakfast Show On 9th March 2009 at NTV7, Sri Pentas Damansara.

Theme: How Disabled Friendly Are We?

NTV7 Interviewed Mr. Francis Siva (President of Independent Living & Training Centre) & Mr. Anthony Thanasayan (Councillor, Petaling Jaya City Council) were invited to discuss the issue of environmental barriers faced by disabled people in Malaysians society and the basic facilities needed to build for easier access.

During the interview, we also highlighted PLUS had at allocated accessible parking spaces for the disabled. Most of the time these facilities are misused and occupied by normal person.

Here to view the photos of live interview..