Many more: Henry and Lisa with some of the ordinary wheelchairs that they want to give away.
He has passed the word around since the wheelchairs arrived but has not received one call.
“I am giving them away for free because these were donated. Maybe people find this hard to believe. For those who need them, all you need to do is call me,” he said.
Henry estimates the wheelchairs, some new and others second-hand, cost around RM230,000.
The motorised ones which were donated by families who had disabled children in England cost RM80,000 and RM60,000 respectively.
The two wheelchairs which are battery-operated can be adjusted according to the user’s size and weight. It also helps the user to stand up and sit down.
“It would be such a waste if these wheelchairs end up at the scrapyard instead,” he said.
In his effort to reach out to the disabled community, especially the underprivileged, Henry has helped many children here secure the necessary equipment to aid their rehabilitation.
“We recently took one boy back with us to England to be fitted with a prosthetic limb. I am just trying to help out as I understand first hand the problems that the disabled face,” he said.
Henry was instrumental in getting conjoined twins Ahmad and Muhamad Rosli, who were joined at the pelvis, to get separated in Saudi Arabia in 2002.
He has also helped many disabled children here to get prosthetic limbs and walk again.
Not only does Henry have a roomful of wheelchairs, he also has boxes of toys sponsored by toy giant Ty.
“These toys are really expensive. We really want to give them away to needy children,” he said.
Henry can be contacted at 017-376 2178
Second runner-up: Siow showing off her bronze medal upon arrival at the KLIA Friday night. — Bernama
Her win ended the country’s 16-year medal drought in the Games and also entitled her to a RM100,000 reward under the Government’s sporting excellence incentive scheme.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and wife, Datin Seri Jeanne Abdullah were on hand to welcome them home.
Jeanne, who is patron of the Malaysian Paralympic Council, said she was satisfied that the athletes had performed to the best of their abilities despite a short training period of only six months.
“I am also happy we ended a 16-year medal drought in the Paralympic Games,” she told reporters.” Bernama
It will take a lot more education before we can expect drivers to show more consideration for the needs of the handicapped.
Parking, according to the report, will be free for the handicapped to save them the inconvenience of paying at the parking meters. Here is another shining example of a local council that is willing to go the extra mile in understanding our problems.
We, as handicapped Malaysians, only ask for a chance to live like other non-disabled citizens. It is not often that we come across local councils that show such interest in helping the disabled.
Few of us can forget the shocking incident in 2006 when a woman driver in a wheelchair in Klang was slapped with a warrant of arrest for not settling her parking dues. She couldn’t because the parking metres were simply too high for her reach.
That episode thankfully ended on a positive note – the warrant was rescinded.
The Majlis Perbandaran Klang also showed their sincerity over the error. They went on to introduce scores of disabled-friendly car parks in their town. These are also available free to disabled drivers.
The waivers should be given in view of the fact that our infrastructure had not included the needs of the disabled community in the original blueprint. This is why many disabled Malaysians are unable to study in normal schools, find jobs and live a normal life.
So offering free services like these can be considered as society’s “payback time” for the handicapped whom we have disabled by our unwitting neglect.
And one day when full, equal participation by the disabled is finally realised, they will be able to pay for the services themselves.
That is, when all unjust barriers are done away with and the disabled enjoy equal job opportunities, and are in a financial position to take care of themselves.
Until then, it would have to be the local council’s responsibility to look into the needs of its disabled citizens.
All private outfits and shopping complexes should also use this understanding to provide free parking for the disabled as part of their corporate social responsibility.
This would be in line with steps taken by the Federal Government to offer free medical treatment and free passports, to name a few, for the handicapped.
Back to the MBSJ, there are several issues that need to be looked into to make the disabled car parking project a success.
The parking stickers need to include caregivers and volunteers who transport the handicapped and not just disabled drivers alone.
Special designated lots for the handicapped is a must. It is not practical to expect the disabled to park in available lots because there really won’t be any.
And let us not expect other drivers to give up their parking lots for the less fortunate. It will take a lot more education in the future before we can expect our denizens to give way to the less able among us.
Meanwhile, as for the disabled woman who was slapped with a summons, well, she is Gurdip aka Rina Kaur who is now councillor for Majlis Perbandaran Selayang.
The last I heard was that she is working hard to improve facilities for the disabled in her area.
Indeed, good and great things are happening for the disabled community.
Selayang councillor Gurdip Kaur @ Rina Pritam Singh (second left) directing enforcement officers to tear down posters in Rawang. — Picture by P.C. Lim SELAYANG: What a moving moment. A wheelchair-bound woman councillor led a team of enforcement officers in a war against illegal signboards here recently.
Gurdip Kaur @ Rina Pritam Singh, a councillor with Selayang Municipal Council (MPS), has started a crackdown on business operators who put up signboards without the council's approvalOver 50 signboards, banners and buntings in Rawang were torn down by 15 enforcement officers during the operation.
"The issue of the many illegal signs around Rawang was discussed at a recent council meeting.
It was decided that those without the required permits and those that did not renew their yearly permits, would have their signs removed," said Gurdip, who is a member of the Town Services, Traffic and Tourism sub-committee.
She added that the signs were also an eyesore and were posing a danger to road users and students of four schools in the area.
"Only last week, a bunting fell on a moving car, covering the driver's view. He could have hit oncoming traffic, or worse, knocked down school children," she said.
Gurdip said errant businesses operators would be fined by the council She said the authorities will regularly monitor and remove illegal signs in 12 commercial and residential areas, including Rawang Tin, Taman Kota Emerald and Bandar Country Homes.
The operation commenced on Sept 8, with notices placed on illegal signs, instructing business owners to remove them, or apply for permits, within three days.
"But few of them heeded the order. So, under Section 5 of Selayang Municipal by-laws, we removed these signs," said Megat Ainun Fadzlil, the MPS deputy enforcement chief for Rawang Zone One and Two,"We will continue to conduct frequent checks on the relevant areas.
"Since last month, 22 billboards were pulled down as the owners did not renew their permits with the council," he added.
Q & A with GURDIP KAUR @ RINA PRITAM SINGH
Enjoying their time: Gurdip and her husband, Francis Siva, enjoying a moment in their garden at the ILTC in Taman Garing, Rawang.To the disabled sportsmen and sportswomen involved, the Paralympics is often regarded as the most important event in their lives.
(From left) Oscar Pistorious of South Africa, Heros Marai of Italy and Christoph Bausch of Switzerland in the heats of the men’s 100m T44 classification race at the 2008 Beijing Paralympic Games.
To me, the event is not only about who wins what and how well they performed. That is important, of course. But what is more important is how a particular sporting event has contributed to the people, and how it will continue to change their lives.
How will life change for the disabled community after major sporting events are over? BBC Online’s web page gave a peek into the lives of the handicapped in China.
The online page’s reporter followed an Olympic volunteer who used a wheelchair and travelled across Beijing by bus and subway, before the Games. The exposure made him realise how serious disability issues are in the country.
Although ramps and lifts were newly added for the Paralympics, this wasn’t so in other towns and villages in China.
The 82.7 million people with disabilities in China still face discrimination and prejudice, which make their daily lives difficult.
Universities in China are still reluctant to take in students with handicaps.
Human Rights Watch based in New York says that “8.58 million employable people with a disability in China did not have jobs last year.”
This even though the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities laws had been enacted and ratified not long ago.
“So far these protections have meant little to (disabled) persons (and) their advocates in China to be able to fairly compete for employment,” the organisation pointed out.
Despite this dismal outlook, the BBC says the good news is that the Chinese government has made a big effort to educate its citizens on how to talk to the disabled athletes during the Paralympics.
One pamphlet advises locals to be helpful, but not too pushy. It also suggests they should be more sensitive to those with disabilities.
Over here in Malaysia, it was announced that we had won the bid to host the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) world general assembly in Kuala Lumpur. The event will be held in November next year.
Even though this is joyous news for the disabled community, many of us are concerned about the issue of accessibility for the international disabled guests when they arrive in KL.
We know what a nightmare it is for a wheelchair user to move around in the capital.
Will the respective local councils be able to tackle these problems by the time our overseas guests arrive next year?
Or will our disabled visitors be restricted in their movements and told where they can go in the city?
Will they stay in posh hotels (with accessible shiny toilets) during their stay or will they be allowed to mingle with the rest of us and have a chance to see what Malaysia is really like?
If nothing is done from now until November next year, will our disabled guests want to come to Malaysia again?
And how would our disabled citizens benefit from such a visit? That is what I really like to know.
Tear them down: Enforcement officers dismantling illegal billboards and banners along Jalan Kuala Garing while Gurdip (second from left) looks on. She said safety was another reason for taking down the banners and billboards.
“Five days ago, a driver almost got into an accident when a poster that was blown off by strong winds landed on his car ,” she said.
More than 10 MPS enforcement officers took down illegal banners and billboards starting from the ones in Jalan Kuala Garing, Rawang. They will be continuing the operation to rid Selayang of illegal banners and billboards.
MPS assistant enforcement officer C. Paramasivam said that this was the first large-scale operation carried out to tear down illegal banners and billboards.
“Normally the owners of illegal banners will be issued a RM500 summons but many have been there for too long.
“Some of the billboards we took down have been there for six months since the licences expired while some owners only paid during the first time they applied for the licence and did not renew it. They have breached Section 5 of the MPS advertising by-law for advertising without licence,” said Paramasivam, who is also the MPS Rawang 1 zone chief.
MPS assistant enforcement officer Megat Ainul Fadzlil said that they normally conducted these operations five to six times a year.
“The billboard or banner owners will be given a three-day deadline after they were issued a notice to renew their licences.
“However, things are slow during the fasting month as we are more focused on checking the Ramadan bazaar licences,” he said, adding that approved banners and billboards would have the MPS sticker.
Gurdip, who is in the tourism, finance and traffic subcommittees in the council, also plans to tackle issues such as potholes, lack of street lights as well as ramps for the disabled.
“After the petrol hike, the trains are packed and it is difficult for the disabled to get into them. I’m also looking into quotations for bubble lifts,” said the secretary of the Independent Living and Training Centre (ILTC).
Apply now: Yeoh showing the stickers for the disabled while Adnan looks on.
According to the Petaling welfare office some 298 disabled people in Subang Jaya are registered with it, but only 23 of them had applied for the council’s free parking stickers this year.
Subang Jaya assemblyman Hannah Yeoh said not many disabled people were aware of the stickers.
“This is not a new thing as the council introduced it in 2006,” said Yeoh during a press briefing together with the MPSJ president Datuk Adnan Md Ikshan.
“The stickers will enable the disabled to park their cars for free at public parking spaces that are managed by the MPSJ, so that they need not go through the inconvenience of paying at the parking meters.”
The stickers are not applicable at private complexes or shopping malls.
It is learnt that only seven disabled people had applied for the stickers in 2006, while in 2007, only 17 applications were received.
Yeoh said this was one of the first steps undertaken towards making things more convenient for the disabled.
Adnan added that since 1995, there was a compulsory by-law for any submissions of development order and building plan to include facilities for the disabled.
“However, it was only enforced two years ago,” he said.
Yeoh said she would be having a meeting on Nov 1 with the disabled community in Subang Jaya to be held at the MPSJ building.
“I’ll arrange for some councillors to be around during the meeting so that they can listen to the hardships faced by the disabled and work towards a solution.”
For more information on the stickers call Yeoh’s assistant Cherrinee Lee at 012-291 3358 or e-mail: cherrinee@gmail.com.
On behalf of ILTC, I would like to take this opportunity to thank Malaysian Institute of Estate Agents towards a caring society.
The disabled are restricted by the lack of disabled-friendly infrastructure in the country.
environment
Physically challenged P.Santakumari, 49 years old and wheelchair- bound, loves Malaysia but strongly feels that something has to be done about the disabled-unfriendly environment. "It is very difficult for me to travel on my own. I need someone to help me move around every time I go out," she said.
"The bus ramps are too steep for me to go up on my own. It is very frustrating to take public transport in Kuala Lumpur."
She also feels that there is need for the public to be educated about disabled people. "They are impatient and inconsiderate of our situation and the daily struggles we have to face."
Santakumari hopes that the government will make buses accessible and make all public transport free for the physically challenged.
A disabled person from Rawang, who only wants to be known as Premila, also took KTM Komuter to task.
"The train service has only got worse since I first started using it six years ago,"she said.
"There are more people using the train now, especially after the increase in petrol price, but the number of coaches has not increased."
