NEW MINISTER FOR WELFARE MINISTER OF MALAYSIA

NEW MINISTER FOR WELFARE MINISTER OF MALAYSIA
Badan Latihan dan Hidup Berdikari Malaysia (ILTC) pada 23hb Mac 2016 menyerahkan memorandum kepada ahli-ahli parlimen mendesak supaya golongan orang kurang upaya (OKU) dikecualikan daripada cukai barangan dan perkhidmatan (GST).

Disabled Members Protest

Disabled Members Protest
Disabled Members Protest at JPJ Wangsa Maju

ILTC Malaysia members staged a protest outside JPJ Wangsamaju KL.

ILTC Malaysia members staged a protest outside JPJ Wangsamaju KL.
Disabled group’s protest disabled drivers required to produce doc's medical report.

Saturday 31 May 2008

Self Defence Workshop

Tuesday, June 3, 2008

SELF DEFENCE WORKSHOP FOR WOMEN/GIRLS WITH DISABILITIES held on 20th - 23rd May 2008 organized by National Sports Council of Malaysia at Commonwealth Hall, Bukit Jalil.

10 ILTC members were invited to participate to the above event.
Lydia Ia Riviere Zijdel is a head of Instructor for Karate and Aikido (born in the Netherlands) is active with the Disability Women's Movement.

Lydia is active with disabled women in practice in sports. She has taught over the past 20 years more than 7,000 disabled girls and women self-defence martial arts, empowerment and mobility and survival trainings.

ILTC members had an opportunities to learn basic-techniques of how to self defence themselves.


For the past 4 days training in different self defence techniques that will be used in the Physical Training: wheelchair techniques, crutch-techniques, techniques with blind stick, How to work with learning disabled women.


In this workshop, Gurdip Kaur @ Rina said, she has learned many techniques how to defence herself. It was very interesting workshop whereby every disabled women should be participate in up coming event in November 2008 in Malaysia.

Consultant told to scrap frills in royal garden project

The Star - Metro
Home > Metro > Central

Tuesday May 27, 2008

Consultant told to scrap frills in royal garden project
Story and photos by EDWARD RAJENDRA

SELANGOR Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah has ordered the Klang Royal Garden landscape consultant Tajul Landart to scrap two arches, a minaret, watch tower, souvenir kiosk and decorative lightings costing RM7.5mil, saying it was a waste of public funds.

Sultan Sharafuddin who is known for his no-nonsense attitude, ticked off the consultant for proposing the lavish frills that pushed the 6.3ha public garden project to an exorbitant RM11mil.

Now it cost just RM3.5 mill after the unnecessary frills were erased from the plan.

The Sultan had advised the consultants, National Landscape Department and Klang Municipal Council's Garden and Recreation Department director Muhammad Hijaz Sanusi to create a garden with a soul.

Hijaz said the Sultan devotes his time to givevaluable inputs so that the people can enjoy an urban oasis within the hustle and bustle of the township.

The Klang Royal Garden, scheduled to be open to the public in October this year, is sandwiched between Jalan Tengku Kelana, Jalan Istana Baru and Jalan Istana.

Part of it can be seen opposite the Our Lady of Lourdes Church where a fountain built a few years ago would be retained as part of the landscape together with the 80-year-old rainforest trees.

“The Sultan also wants the garden area friendly for the physically challenged.

Garden with a soul: Part of the Klang Royal Garden with the designated children’s playground (left) and fountain.

“People are going to love this green area as it will have a jogging track, gazebo, two open air plazas, outdoor fitness station, children's playground and park benches,” Hijaz added.

He said the garden would have about 18 species of flowering and fruit trees.

“Among the tree species to be planted are African Tulip, Tekoma, Putat and Tembusu. (These trees were chosen as Tuanku as he wanted trees that are easily maintained and attract birds,” he said.

The Star - Lifestyle
Home > Lifestyle > Focus


Thursday May 29, 2008

Taking flight

Wheel PowerBy ANTHONY THANASAYAN

It is getting easier for disabled persons to travel by air but this does not mean that all flights are problem-free.

IT HAS been sometime since I last travelled in an aeroplane. Most of my experiences in an aircraft, both local and overseas, have been positive ones, except for an occasional glitch.

Once I was wheeled all the way to the entrance of the aircraft, only to be stopped in my tracks and asked by the crew to get out of my wheelchair and walk to my cabin seat. For those who are unaware, regular wheelchairs are too big to fit into the narrow aisles of the aircraft.

Normally, disabled passengers at the check-in counters are asked to switch wheelchairs and get into the airport’s specially-designed compact ones which can negotiate the narrow cabin space.

I do not blame the poor fellows for asking me to do the impossible. There are many people who use wheelchairs but they are able to walk. They use wheelchairs because of old age or difficulty in walking long distances.

Having said that, it would be a good idea for airlines to take the trouble to find out the level of handicap of each disabled passenger before they board the plane. This would save both the crew and disabled passengers, a great deal of awkwardness and embarrassment.

Some of the customer care staff who answer the telephone are not knowledgeable about available services for disabled passengers.

Last weekend, I rang up a local airline and enquired about a flight that I wanted to take from Kuala Lumpur to Penang. When the officer heard that I was in a wheelchair, she said there was no way I could travel by myself.

“You have to get someone to accompany you because our airlines will not provide any assistance for you,” she said.

When I asked her if she was absolutely sure about her facts, she gave me a totally different response when she came back on the line after making me wait for 15 minutes.

Though it is getting easier for disabled persons to travel by air, thanks to increasing awareness about their specific needs, it does not mean that all flights are problem-free. Some airlines charge the handicapped for the use of wheelchairs and other assistive devices.

Others come up with unfair policies that require disabled passengers to sign permission and indemnity forms before they can travel.

Well-known disability organisations like the Canadian-based Disabled People’s International (DPI) highlighted these concerns recently by pointing out that airlines that resorted to such practices lacked respect and appreciation for what the disabled have to go through in life.

Quoting New Delhi’s aviation ministry as a good example, DPI pointed out the new rules that took effect on May 7. The Civil Aviation Requirement (CAR) states that “airlines and airports must provide wheelchairs or other assistive devices free of cost to users.”

It is now mandatory for every airport operator to make appropriate provisions, including ambulifts, to enable disabled passengers to embark or disembark without inconvenience.

DPI went on to say that airlines have also been asked not to turn away a passenger with a disability. They have been told “not to insist on medical clearance or special forms unless they have information that the passengers suffer from some contagious disease or would require attention during flight to maintain their health.”

The DPI also included a report from the Times of India that the handicapped who use service dogs will now be able to have their companions travel with them on the plane, without charge.

The rule only applies to canines that guide humans “with disability and/or reduced mobility”.

The animal, however, needs to be well-trained in order not to inconvenience other passengers.

BBC ONLINE: UN Disability Treaty

Saturday, May 31, 2008

BBC ONLINE: UN Disability Treaty

At-a-glance: UN disability treaty

The UN is expected to agree a new treaty giving greater rights to disabled people around the world.

Here is an at-a-glance guide to the draft United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities:
  • Participating countries to change laws and ban discriminatory customs and practices

  • Disabled people to have an equal right to life

  • Equal rights for disabled women and girls

  • Protection for children with disabilities

  • A right to own and inherit property, to control financial affairs and have equal access to financial services

  • Disabled people not to be deprived of their liberty "unlawfully or arbitrarily"

  • Medical or scientific experiments without consent to be banned

  • An end to enforced institutionalisation

  • Freedom from exploitation, violence and abuse

  • A right to privacy and access to medical records

  • Countries to remove barriers to accessing the environment, transport, public facilities and communication

  • A right to independent living

  • Essential equipment to be made affordable

  • A right to an adequate standard of living and social protection

  • An end to discrimination relating to marriage, family and personal relationships

  • Equal access to education

  • An end to discrimination in the job market

  • A right to equal participation in public life

  • A right to participate in cultural life

  • Developing countries to be assisted to put the convention into practice

End

Sunday 25 May 2008

Malaysiakini: Stop Exploiting The Disabled

Saturday, May 24, 2008

Malaysiakini: Stop Exploiting The Disabled

QUICK COMMENT: Here is our interview with Malaysiakini. We sincerely hope that Parliament House will finally get the message! And that is, stop exploiting the disabled for your own ends!

aNtPET+BLOGSPOT

From Malaysiakini today

BE ASHAMED, DISABLED ACTIVIST TELLS PARLIAMENT SPEAKER

Disability activist Anthony Thanasayan has expressed shock and disappointment on comments made by Dewan Rakyat speaker Pandikar Amin Mulia on rights’ group actions using the parliament lobby to garner support.

“I’m sad and I can’t believe he has the audacity to make such remarks,” said Anthony, coordinator of Malaysians Against Discrimination of the Disabled (Madd).

On Thursday, the House speaker said the lobby is a place for parliamentarians to work and not for groups to voice their political agendas.

He also noted that all political matters should to be dealt outside the Parliament.

One event that came under fire from the speaker was the birthday celebration of Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf) chairperson P Waythamoorthy's daughter W Vwaishhnnavi, 6, on May 21.

The speaker also raised concerns over the presence of Madd representatives on May 8 demanding an apology from Pasir Mas MP Ibrahim Ali for comments targeted at wheelchair bound Karpal Singh, DAP chairperson and Bukit Gelugor MP.

Highlighting the lax security in Parliament, the speaker said he would be writing to all political party leaders to make sure certain such events are not repeated.

Responding to this, Anthony opined: “It’s despicable to say children and handicapped people are a security threat.

“What's more patronizing is to say we were used by the opposition for their own cause. If you are a decent human being, you would never resort to use other people’s weaknesses,” he said emphasising the opposition did not influence Madd’s appearance in Parliament.

“Does he think we have no brains? He should know we have more brains than him. We will not allow others to use us for their political mileage.

“They (Pakatan Rakyat) were the only ones to approach us and converse with us. Not the Barisan representatives. Parliament should give voiceless masses a chance to voice out, not reprimand us,” he added.

Other issues also raisedHe stressed Parliament should hurry the amendment of Persons with Disabilities Act 2007 to include penalties against those who breach its provisions.

“Currently the act is made up of sweet words but nothing in there is effective,” he said.

Anthony also raised various other issues such as the absence of designated parking lots and lack of appropriate amenities in Parliament for disable persons.

“Parliament should be ashamed, our legislative assembly is a disgrace. The ramp used by those who are wheelchair bound is equivalent to the ones used to (deliver) goods.

“Even shopping malls have better facilities catered to the handicapped,” he said.

During the past weeks since Parliament started, civil society groups have used the august house to highlight their grouses and host various gatherings.

These include women’s rights, Malaysian Trade Union Congress and the migration working group.

End