Disabled Group Threaten Protest - malaysiakiniAn NGO for the disabled community, Independent Living and Training Centre (ILTC), warned that they would hold a protest against the Selayang Municipal Council if it fails to heed the needs of the disabled community.
"We're giving them a month to provide people in Rawang with disabled-friendly facilities. Failure to do so will result in us organising a mass protest," said Francis Siva, the director of ILTC.
Siva along with a dozen disabled people sent a memorandum to Selayang Municipal Council this morning.They complained of the lack of progress in providing infrastructure for the disabled in the Rawang and Selayang vicinity.
Among the demands in the memorandum was for the Selayang Municipal Council building to be made disabled-friendly.
The group also called for all new buildings to be made accessible to the disabled, with allocations for disabled parking lots near building entrances in Rawang.
Empty promises to disabled
Speaking to Malaysiakini, Siva also lamented the fact that the council had only paid lip service to the disabled community.
"Our secretary, Reena Kaur when appointed as councillor for a year from July 2008 to June 2009 had made many proposals to the council. However, the proposals had not become a reality."
In the absence of a representative in the council, the ILTC also wants the disabled community to be included in the council's technical committee as the representative would be able to advise the council on issues involving the community.
"They don't understand our needs. As such, development is done without taking into account our concerns," Francis lamented.He also bemoaned the futility of having existing laws that did cover people with disabilities.“We have all the by-laws but the system is corrupted.”
There have been periodic complaints by members of the disabled community even though an act had been passed in 2008.
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