Thursday December 1, 2011

Room for all

No more excuses for local councils to exclude the disabled and elderly in their development plans.

THE International Day of Persons with Disabilities (IDPD) will once again be commemorated on Dec 3. A yearly affair since it was established in 1992 by the UN General Assembly, the occasion is the most significant for people with disabilities (PWDs) the world over.

This weekend will be marked by scores of activities to highlight the event. They will include forums and public talks by PWDs, campaigns on information about disabilities, and celebrations to mark the true capabilities of handicapped individuals around the globe. All of this is to get disabled people into mainstream society so that they are able to take part in social life and in the nation’s development, just like non-disabled people.

One of IDPD’s focus is to help remove obstacles that stand in the way of the government’s implementation of disability-sensitive policies.

This year’s IDPD theme is: “Together for a better world for all: Including persons with disabilities in development.”

One of the most effective ways in bringing about positive changes for PWDs in Malaysia is to rope in the support of all local councils.

I was privileged to be in the company of scores of disabled people last week at two special events leading up to IDPD to bring about this exact effect.

The first was at the Selangor state secretariat building in Shah Alam. A special meeting was convened by Selangor Chairman of the Local Government, Study and Research Committee, Ronnie Liu, and important representatives from the 12 local councils in the state.

The purpose was to get each of them to set up a committee comprising PWDs and key members of the local councils in order to assimilate handicapped people into mainstream society.

By engaging with PWDs, each local council will be better informed on how to make the necessary changes, such as building ramps, disabled-friendly toilets and guiding blocks for the blind, the handicapped and the elderly residents in their constituencies.

The participation of the disabled will help local councils come up with appropriate and timely policies to integrate PWDs in towns and cities. From the feedback at the meeting, a few of the local councils said they did not know how to set up such a committee. Others did not seem to want to be bogged down with extra work.

Liu pointed out that there was no more excuses for any local council to not include the disabled and elderly in their development plans. He gave them two months to get their act together in coming up with a disability technical committee within their respective communities.

Meanwhile, more than 60 local councils from all over the country attended a recent two-day seminar on disability access at a leading hotel in Kuala Lumpur. It was the brainchild of Women, Family and Community Development Minister Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil, after playing an instrumental role a couple of months earlier in persuading the Cabinet to push for the setting up of disability committees in local councils throughout the country.

This was the first time that I had seen the Women, Family and Community Development Ministry and the Welfare Department tackle the issue of accessibility with local councils so seriously.

It clearly shows that society, including the non-disabled people who work together with us for change, is truly beginning to see that our real problem is the hostile environment outside.

I spoke later to some of the disabled participants who attended the seminar. They had some pertinent pointers to make for the organisers for future seminars:

> Please include some ordinary disabled people instead of some outstanding disabled personalities as speakers. The local councils might get the wrong picture and think all disabled people are successful. If that is the case, then why should local councils help? Also give handicapped speakers more time to speak instead of only five minutes.

> The ramp to the stage was unacceptable. It was steep and dangerous. This was a bad example for local councils who might “follow by example” in their designs.

> The hotel, supposedly a five-star one, had no disabled-friendly rooms among its more than 600 rooms. One disabled woman paid RM270 for a night’s stay, only to have to put up with much discomfort; she almost fell and injured herself. Another, a quadriplegic, returned to Pahang because the room he had booked turned out to be inaccessible. Sad to say, he did not turn up for the seminar the next day. Seminar organisers should be aware of what PWDs need when selecting venues.

Thursday November 24, 2011

Needless woes for the wheelchair-bound

WHO says life in a wheelchair is all doom and gloom? After sitting in one for more than 40 years, I’ve come to accept the fact that getting around in a wheelchair is – contrary to what many may think – just as fun as walking. Except for those dreaded moments when physical challenges that are absolutely unnecessary are put before a wheelchair user.

Take last week’s event, for instance. I was in the company of some top notch men and women at the main campus of the National Institute of Public Administration (Intan) in Jalan Bukit Kiara, Kuala Lumpur. We were attending a training programme conducted by a former mayor from England.

As councillor for Petaling Jaya, the topic was right up my alley. However, no sooner had I arrived at the venue when I suspected that this was going to be a bad day for wheelchairs. I barely managed to get into the building. They were some dangerous gradients and drain covers for my wheelchair to negotiate.

Once inside, I discovered that the men’s washroom was one floor above me. The only way to get to it was to climb a flight of stairs as there were no lifts.

The training session was scheduled for the whole day. Even single steps in the building did not come with a simple ramp. I had to ask for assistance each time I went in and out of the roundtable discussion room.

Then the most unthinkable thing happened: I was expected to use the women’s toilet. Suddenly, I was no longer feeling “distinguished” among my fellow participants. I felt embarrassed, humiliated and even outraged by the entire experience.

Despite the total lack of facilities for people with my needs, I was shocked when the organisers insisted that I pay the registration fee, which included refreshments and lunch.

I refused. I pointed out that it was morally not right for them to charge me, considering that they had not ensured my right to basic facilities at the event.

I was also disappointed with some of the excuses the organisers gave in response to my complaints:

> We didn’t know that you would be coming in a wheelchair:

Is this a relevant excuse nowadays when more and more buildings are becoming disabled-friendly in view of the increasing number of elderly and disabled citizens? If they had known, are they suggesting that they would have renovated a ramp or toilet in time for the event? Shouldn’t they have done this already? Do people in wheelchairs have to shout out their disability status each time they participate in society? Isn’t this a form of discrimination?

> It is our policy to charge all participants.

Even after you realise that you have been most unfair to a participant by denying him his basic needs? Fortunately, the organisers came to their senses and refunded my money in full.

I hope the experience proved to be a learning point for them as it was for me.

Intan Bukit Kiara was opened in the early 1980s. Why has it taken so long for the institute to include basic facilities for the handicapped? Did they not know that Malaysians with disabilities exist?

I had no choice but to quit the session halfway through its run.

The biggest question now remains: Is Intan going to do anything about making its facilities accessible to Malaysians with disabilities after today? Let’s certainly hope so!

28 November 2011 | last updated at 10:33pm

Disabled friendly facilities still lacking

RECENTLY, while having dinner in a restaurant near home, I saw two women struggling to get their wheelchair-bound elder relative onto the pavement.

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There was no ramp, so they had to drive as close as possible to the pavement that was at least a foot higher than the road table.

One woman placed a wheelchair on the pavement and went back to assist their elder out of the car.

When she realised that the car door could not be fully opened because the car was too close, she brought the wheelchair back onto the road and helped the elder out of the car. Once their elder was comfortably seated in the wheelchair, both women proceeded to push it towards the entrance to the restaurant where the steps were.

Then they each grabbed the wheelchair by its armrests, lifted it and struggled up the steps.

I watched anxiously, fearful that they might slip. Fortunately, they managed to get their elder safely into the restaurant.

Last week, when I saw wheelchair ramps being built onto the pavement at Lake Titiwangsa near the interior car park, I was relieved.

There are not many public places that are built with the wheelchair user in mind.

At the Lake Titiwangsa, where the ramps were built, large yellow location signboards have also been set up to indicate their presence.

The angles of the ramps were also not made so steep as to prevent wheelchair users from wheeling up unassisted.

Some time ago, when I saw tact tile paths being built onto the same pavement around Lake Titiwangsa, I had wondered why ramps were not built at the same time. Now, with both tact tile pathways and wheelchair ramps in place, Lake Titiwangsa can boast of being a disabled-friendly park, although I rarely come across disabled persons visiting the park when I were there.

Perhaps not many disabled persons and their caretakers are aware that disabled friendly facilities are now in place here. If City Hall can extend the two facilities to all accessible areas of the park, it will be a bonus to the visually-impaired and wheelchair users who wish to join their able-bodied friends for a stroll.

The only thing City Hall should be concerned about, I think, is the parking of motorcycles on the pavements. This is a regular feature at Lake Titiwangsa, especially around the smaller lake by which a road runs. Visit the lake on weekend evenings and you will see what I mean.

Park visitors and joggers have been forced to move onto the road at areas where gangs of bikers and their bikes have completely occupied the pavement.

You can imagine what obstacles wheelchair users and the visually impaired are up against when they visit the park, even if there are facilities friendly to their needs.

Now, with the ramps built onto the pavements, it will be even easier for bikers to park their bikes there unless City Hall does something to prevent them from staking their weekend claim on the pavements.

KL to be disabled friendly soon

Dear Mayor,

Can you explain City Hall's involvement in providing facilities for the disabled?

AK
Kuala Lumpur

Tan Sri Ahmad Fuad Ismail: We at City Hall want to ensure that our city's development takes into account the needs and facilities for the disabled. The idea is to integrate disabled people into society so that they can play active roles and lead normal lives. The aim is to provide a barrier-free environment for the independence, convenience and safety of people with disabilities.

A concrete step we have taken is to set up the Committee for the Development of the Disabled in 2006 to ensure compliance to existing regulations for standards related to facilities for the disabled -- Malaysian Standards 1883 and 1184 and MS1331 under Development Order since 2007.

The latest initiative is the setting up of the building standards and innovation unit which is responsible for tackling issues related to the disabled such as an access audit.

KL residents will be encouraged to know that this unit was set up in May last year, a year before the directive from the Ministry of Housing and Local Government was issued in June this year to set up an access audit unit in each local public housing project.

Since the unit was set up, it has organised four series of disabled access audit workshops, where more than 136 City Hall staff have been trained and about 21 access audits in myriad development typologies have been implemented.

We are in the process of moving towards a barrier-free city by next year, which will be 75 per cent disabled friendly.

Serious efforts and initiatives have to be implemented and upgraded by all parties to achieve this target. These efforts are to make the city more safe, usable and accessible for disabled people.

City Hall will also arrange preparatory programmes for public facilities for the disabled in areas outside buildings to fulfill the barrier-free and universal design concept. This will include tactile for the blind or guiding blocks for the sight-impaired, ramps for wheelchairs, step ramps, integral lampposts and single pole street signs.

Barrier-free design strives to make the built environment accessible to and usable by all persons. It promotes integration and independence through designs that are safe, functional and dignified for everybody.

A number of streets have been equipped with guiding blocs for the blind, for example, in Jalan Ipoh, Jalan P. Ramlee, Jalan Parlimen, Jalan Pinang, Jalan Raja Chulan, Jalan Semarak, Jalan Stoner, in front of KL Football Stadium Jalan Tenteram, Jalan Tun Sambanthan, Tun Sambanthan Roundabout, Jalan Sultan Abdul Samad, Jalan Telawi, Jalan Berhala, Jalan Bangsar, Jalan Bukit Bintang and a portion of Jalan Sultan Ismail.

Integral lamp posts which are designed specially to reduce the number of lamp posts along walkways to reduce barriers can be used as streetlights, decorative lights, street signs or even traffic lights at junctions. At this time, integral lamp posts have been installed along Jalan Sultan Ismail, a portion of Jalan P. Ramlee, Jalan Bukit Bintang and Jalan Raja Chulan.

Single pole signboards of this kind have been erected to reduce barriers and its height has been designed so that people can walk under it safely. The installation of these single pole signboards have begun in the city centre and will be widened to include other areas.

It is our hope that these initiatives will be implemented successfully so that disabled people are able to commute between home, work and other destinations hassle-free.

When people of all range of abilities move freely at will, the city will have achieved the stature it aspires in terms of accessibility for all. On that note, please rest assured that City Hall is steadily gaining ground.