Losing their way
BARRIER: The visually-impaired fighting for space with stalls at the Jalan Tun Sambathan sidewalk — Pic: SAMSUL SAID
KUALA LUMPUR: Brickfields — for so long the home of the visually-impaired — has now become a "no man's land" for the blind.
It used to be a walk in the park to and from the Malaysian Association of the Blind (MAB) headquarters but had since become almost impossible to navigate after traders were allowed to park their stalls on the Jalan Tun Sambanthan sidewalk to ply their Deepavali wares.
Fully-blind George Wong, 75, now faces a hellish situation during his weekly visits to the MAB. The Semenyih resident is at a loss when attempting to locate the KL Monorail station, his "landmark" to get to KL Sentral to catch his bus home.
As the walkway in front of the station has been taken over by the stalls, he has to gingerly make his way around. "This scares me as the sidewalk is close to the busy road.
"Sometimes, I go the wrong way and have to make the long way back to MAB to start over."
Mohd Haris Fadzilah Ahmad, 32, said a friend was not as lucky, as his walking stick was almost hit by a car before he fell down, injuring himself.
"Are the authorities waiting for someone to die before acting?" said the partially-blind masseuse who commutes to Brickfields daily.
Blind student Afendi Adlun, 20, said he almost fell on the road while on his way to MAB recently. "I can normally walk unaccompanied but with the traders on the pavement, I missed my mark, missed a step and almost tripped on the road."
MAB's Zalina Hassan, 37, said complaints to City Hall had fallen on deaf ears.
"The blind having no proper facilities is not something new here. Our needs are constantly being put on hold."
She said at the corner of a bus stop in front of the YMCA building in Jalan Thambipillay, there used to be a pole to stop the blind from using the route. "Some of my friends were hurt badly after bumping into the pole, which was only removed much later."
Partially-blind Mohd Zuhairi Abdul Hamid said indiscriminate motorcycle parking on pavements designated for the visually-impaired was also another headache.
"Besides expanding the pavements, the authorities should make clearer signs for the public to identify areas meant for the blind."
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