Move to employ more disabled people in Johor

JOHOR BARU: The state government, with the help of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has set-up a People with Disabilities Employment Unit to encourage more employers to hire people with disabilities.

Menteri Besar Datuk Abdul Ghani Othman said the unit would provide employers with a data bank of people with disabilities whom they could hire.

It will also act as a support system where those selected will be given training that is suitable for the job.

"The setting up of this unit is one of Johor's efforts to increase the number of people with disabilities in the workforce," he said after opening a national conference on employment and disability here yesterday.

Also present were Social Welfare Department director-general Datuk Meme Zainal Rashid and UNDP assistant resident representative James George Chacko.

Ghani said the setting up of the unit was due to the success of an employment model jointly developed by UNDP and the State Economic Planning Unit. He said the state's immediate target was to fulfil the one per cent quota of employment for people with disabilities in government agencies.

"From there, we hope to expand it to the private sector," he added.

Ghani said for too long, people with disabilities had been discouraged by discriminatory barriers and mistaken assumptions about their capacity to work, causing most of them to withdraw from an active search for jobs and rely on either disability benefits or eke out a livelihood in low value-added work in the informal economy with support from their family.

"With the setting up of this unit, support will be made available to job-seekers with disabilities," he added.

The special unit can be reached at 07-2266618.

Meme said the move by Johor in setting up the unit was a major first step since Malaysia become a signatory to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in April last year.

"People with disabilities in this country should no longer be treated as passive recipients of assistance or as a burden to society, but rather as active contributors to society to achieve the goals of development for all," she said.

Meme hoped other states would also follow suit and set up similar units to assist people with disabilities.

Sources: NST Online

Municipal council to provide facilities for disabled in SS15

I AM disabled and have just moved to Subang Jaya from Klang. I am living in SS15. I enjoy living in this area as it has facilities that I need such as banks and restaurants.

Most of the time, I venture out on my own using my wheelchair.

Sometimes, I face difficulties going to certain parts of SS15 because of the curbs, uneven roads and other obstructions.

Is the council planning to make SS15 disabled-friendly to cater to people like me?

Senior citizens will also benefit from the disabled-friendly facilities.

Lim Khiew Wheng


DATUK ADNAN: The commercial area of SS15 was the first phase of development in Subang Jaya that was carried out by Sime UEP at the end of the 1970s.

It is undeniable that in the development plans put forward before 2000, there was no emphasis on the needs and facilities for the disabled.

However, after 2000, the Selangor Town and Country Planning Department, through the Local Agenda 21 programme, stated that the needs and facilities of the disabled must be taken into consideration.

This is stipulated in the development guidelines prepared by the Peninsular Malaysia Town and Country Planning Department.

In the guidelines, the facilities that have to be provided for the disabled include car parks, ramps for wheelchairs in commercial buildings, recreational parks, offices and high-rise residential buildings, as well as disabled-friendly toilets and lifts.

These facilities are stated in the development consent which developers have to adhere to.

In the case of older developed areas such as SS15, the council has identified disabled-friendly facilities that can be provided or upgraded.

These include disabled-friendly facilities at bus stops, pedestrian crossings and walkways from carparks to business premises.

At the moment, we are working with public transport concessionaires, such as Rapid KL and Metro, to build disabled-friendly facilities at existing bus stops to make it easier for the disabled to board buses.

The council is deeply concerned with facilities for the disabled. In 2007, we won the Building and Facilities For The Disabled Award in the government buildings category.

Source: Street, NST Online

Guidelines for toilets for the disabled

By TAN KARR WEI

THE Petaling Jaya City Council (MBPJ) has come up with design guidelines for toilets meant for the disabled.

According to a statement issued by the MBPJ public relations department, the guidelines were prepared as a result of a site visit by the MBPJ Disabled Technical Committee to several old folk’s and handicapped children’s homes in Petaling Jaya.

The committee had discovered that the toilet facilities provided by many of these homes did not comply with the specifications set by the Standards and Industrial Research Institute of Malaysia (Sirim).

Among the problems identified were that the size of the toilets were too small, there were no hand rails, the toilet bowls were too high or too low and some cubicles were not equipped with emergency alarms.

The MBPJ guidelines were drafted according to the exist­­ing Malaysian Standard (MS 1184 : 2002) - Code of Practice on Access for Disabled Persons to Public Buildings by Sirim, the Guidelines on Buildings Requirements For Disabled Persons and overseas design samples.

The design requirements for the toilets are:

·The size of the toilets should be at least 4.5 sq metres and the minimum size should be 2.13m by 2.13m;

·Toilet doors should be at least 900mm in width;

·Toilet seats should be 475mm from the floor;

·Wall mirror should be 1.15m from the floor and at a slant of between 5° and 10° (this requirement is not mentioned in the MS 1184 guideline)

·Hand rails by the toilet seat should be at 800mm from the floor and should be adjustable;

·Door handles must be 500m from the floor and the length of the handles should be 900m and fixed at the edge of the door;

·Emergency alarms must be fitted, with one emergency cord next to the toilet seat and one by the sink, an emergency siren and light beacon fitted inside of the toilet;

·Tissue holders should be next to the toilet seat, at a distance of 500mm

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The woes of the disabled

Source: The Star

The woes of the disabled

By CHRISITINA LOW

IT takes K. Bathmavathi some time to manoeuvre herself out of her car with some assistance and she is used to this. But what she dreads is going round and round looking for a parking bay designated for the disabled.

“Time is wasted looking for a place to park and it is frustrating to find that others are using lots meant for the disabled.

Bathmavathi, wheelchair-bound since 19, said life was tough as very little was being done for people like her.

StarMetro went along with her recently and saw just how bad facilities for the disabled are.

Dangerous: A disabled person using the road to get about as the kerb is just too high to go over.

Some had been vandalised while others were not done in accordance to the needs of a disabled person.

Even going to the banks is a problem as the buildings are not disabled-friendly - with high entrances and some without ramps.

So how do they do their banking?

“We usually wave from outside the glass door and if the security guard notices, he will come over and help carry the wheelchair up the kerb or stairs,” said Thomas Yeo.

When going out with friends, Yeo who uses a motorised wheelchair, said he could only go to a few cafes or restaurants in SS2 as not all were disabled friendly.

“Every shop has its own design and it is like travelling on a rocky road,

Not disabled-friendly: A wheelchair-bound person needs help to access buildings like this one.

“Our wheelchairs cannot go up a kerb and it is not easy to push yourself up without assistance,” said Yeo, who lives with some friends at the Beautiful Gate Foundation Petaling Jaya Centre in SS2.

He said the journey home was also a scary one at night when cars speed past without noticing them.

He added that most of them had an emergency light attached to them or wearfluorescent vests to be noticed.

While the council has allocated parking lots for the disabled, extra space would help as they need this to get out with their wheelchairs.

StarMetro found only certain areas had allocated parking lots for the disabled but the signages had been vandalised.

The residents would be compiling a list of recommendations that the council could look into implementing to make the city a disabled-friendly city.

“We will compile a list and send it to the mayor so that he could look into it and make the necessary changes,” said Bathmavathi who is also in the sub-committee for the All Petaling Jaya Residents’ Asso­cia­tion Coalition (APAC) as well as the Association of Women with Disabi­lities Malaysia.

Razali Adom, who lives in Taman Medan, said disabled people were always looking for places to meet with their friends, sometimes for small gatherings.

“Having to organise such events in community halls is difficult as most are not disabled-friendly.

“Sometimes we want to hold gatherings with friends in larger areas but this is a problem. We have no choice but to hold this events in our houses where we are more comfortable,” said Razali who is also a member of the Malaysian Spinal Injuries Association.

Sam Foong said she only obtained her driving licence recently and realised that getting around on her own was much easier in the city.

However, just like the rest, Foong hopes the council would make available better public facilities for the disabled as they, too, want to move around and enjoy various activities like everyone else.

During a recent council fullboard meeting, PJ mayor Datuk Roslan Sakiman said all building plans would have to comply with the MS1184:2002 code of practice of Access for the Disabled People Outside Buildings and urged the departments involved to look into planning guidelines for disabled facilities.

He said several aspects that the council would be looking into seriously were the accessibility of ramps, connectivity, tactile and guilding block, lift, railings, pedestrian crossing, hand rails, grab bars, toilets and signages.

Sources: The Star

Lift for wheelchair-bound MPs and visitors ready

THE Parliament building is now friendlier to wheelchair-bound MPs and visitors as its special lift is ready for use.

Chief Administrator Datuk Kamaruddin Mohamad Baria said: “Disabled visitors can now park their cars at the back of the Parliament building, wheel down a low-gradient ramp, which is covered with anti-slippery mat, to get to the back entrance of the Parliament. Then they can take the lift up.”

Convenience: Norizan trying out the lift for the disabled at the parliament building yesterday.

He said the proposal was to accommodate wheelchair-bound MPs like veteran DAP MP Karpal Singh and other visitors.

Wheelchair-bound Norizan Kasbi was pleasantly surprised when he saw the lift during a visit to Parliament yesterday.

The former Johor Umno Youth information chief was the first disabled person to use the lift.

“This is thoughtful of the Parliament administration,” said Norizan, 47, who became paralysed after a road accident in Sabah in 1999.

Sources: The Star

The disabled just want to live life well

YOUTH and Sports Minister Datuk Ahmad Shabery Cheek said handicapped people should not be referred to as “disabled” but “people with special ability” (“Disabled people have special abilities” – The Star, June 13).

As a person living with a spinal cord injury and tetraplegia, I respectfully disagree with him in this matter. For the lack of better terms, I would prefer that we stick to “disabled people,” not even “people with disabilities”.

The term “people with disabilities” puts the burden of the problem on the person.

“Disabled people”, on the other hand, describes people whose interaction in society is limited by environmental and attitudinal barriers. We are disabled by these factors which when removed also removes the disability.

Our collective desire to play an active part in society is severely hampered by the multitude of barriers that we face at every turn of our lives.

Referring to the minister’s statement that many of us are not “disabled” because we have special qualities that sometimes non-disabled people cannot even match, I would like to point out that not every disabled person can achieve such feats, nor do we desire to be super achievers of such calibre.

Likewise, not all non-disabled persons want to scale Mount Everest, swim across the English Channel or are able to sprint 100 meters in under 10 seconds.

Most disabled people want to lead ordinary, but meaningful, lives just like everyone else. Even this simple desire can be difficult to be realised for some.

The Government should spend more time resolving the outstanding issues, especially accessibility in the built environment and public transport faced by the majority of disabled people, instead of coining terms that do nothing to empower us.

What is the point of being called “people with special ability” when we cannot even get out from our homes safely because the environment around where we live is inaccessible?

Does it matter to us if the minister wants to use a supposedly more positive term to refer to us when we cannot even use public transport to move around conveniently?

We cannot escape from the fact that no matter what positive phrases are used, disabled people are still the most marginalised community in the country.

The Government should seriously work towards improving the quality of life of disabled people by removing barriers and providing relevant social support where required.

Sources: The Star

PETER TAN,

Kuala Lumpur.

Looking for toilets

WHEEL POWER
By ANTHONY THANASAYAN

The search for a model disabled-friendly rest room yielded some interesting results.

I WAS involved in an unusual assignment a week ago. Together with another gentleman in a wheelchair, and accompanied by a team of experts from the Petaling Jaya City Council (MBPJ), our motley crew went out as “roving investigators” in Petaling Jaya.

We went to look at, of all things, toilets. And we were only interested in loos that were user-friendly for disabled and elderly individuals.

The purpose of our trip was to come up with a good prototype design of a restroom that would be user-friendly for the handicapped.

Our first stop was a well-known hotel. We oohed and aahed at most of the outfit’s disabled-friendly designs. The most impressive was the entry/exit door of the loo, which was an electronic one.

All a patron in a wheelchair needed to do was press a button with one finger and presto: it would open for him. Once inside, he has only to push another button. The door closes, offering him all the privacy he needs.

If only all other hotels in the country would follow the good example of the hotel we visited and provide electronic doors as well, it would make the lives of disabled and elderly persons much easier when they visit such outfits.

Even though posh hotels may have disabled-friendly loos, little attention is given to the doors. The doors are often so heavy that we have a hard time trying to open them.

Not everything was smooth-sailing during our assignment. Together with the good came the not-so-good.

We had a lesson on how important it was to train everyone to handle an emergency.

When we tried to get into the loo for the first time, it suddenly got locked and refused to open until 20 minutes later. None of the staff knew how to open the door.

They claimed the person in charge was not around. Fortunately, this was not a real emergency. We dreaded to think of what could have happened if a disabled person had fallen inside the loo and needed help.

It was disappointing too that the five-star hotel had a steep ramp at its entrance which disabled guests were forced to use to access the building.

The reserved parking lot for the disabled was located far from the entrance to the building.

The management promised to rectify the situation soonest possible.

Our journey also took us to Ikea and Ikano shopping centres in Mutiara Damansara.

No sooner had we arrived when we were greeted by smiling security guards at the generously-sized parking lots for the disabled. These people are so serious about their car parks for the handicapped that they clamp any unauthorised cars and make them pay a fine for abusing the facilities.

The money collected is donated to a local charity for the disabled.

I was shocked to hear about the reactions of some people who misuse the disabled parking bays. One or two of them even resorted to violence when their cars were clamped, I was told.

The majority, however, were apologetic when they realised the error of their ways.

As for the toilets, especially Ikea’s, I think they have close to the perfect one I’ve seen so far.

The toilet is spacious enough for a helper to accompany a disabled person. There’s an alarm bell (panic button) in case of an emergency and even a face mirror that leans slightly downwards from a strategic height to allow a wheelchair-user to view his upper body.

We were all touched by the willingness of these two shopping centres to improve on what they were providing for shoppers

Sources: The Star

Plight of the disabled

By LOOI SUE-CHERN

TOILETS for the disabled are often too small or are locked.

These are some of the problems faced by the disabled at some places in Penang, said Society of Disabled Persons (Penang) former president Tan Kuan Aw.

Tan, who is wheelchair-bound, said there were also toilets for the disabled which had been turned into storerooms because the managements of buildings where these toilets are located think not many people use them.

He said there were specifications that must be complied with when facilities for the disabled are provided such as handrails for ramps.

But after studying the situation in Penang for a decade, Tan did not think the local authorities were serious when it came to ensuring that these specfications were adhered to.

“The setting up of a barrier-free facility like a toilet for people with disabilities just for the sake of it is a misunderstood concept. There are Sirim standards and requirements that need to be followed,” he said in an interview.

A check by The Star in public places around Penang proved Tan’s descriptions of several public toilets accurate.

One such toilet in a building along the Jelutong Expressway was so small that a disabled person in a wheelchair would find great difficulty to close the toilet door from the inside.

Tight space: A woman in wheelchair demonstrating how difficult it is to use the cramped toilet for disabled persons.

The reason for this, apart from the size of the toilet, is that the toilet door opens the wrong way. It opens inward, instead of outward or sliding.

Another toilet for the disabled persons in a shopping mall is occasionally locked and those who want to use the facility must find the cleaner who has the key, as instructed by a sign stuck to the door.

As for ramps, Tan said some were built without handrails. But in the case of the ramp at the Taman Sri Pinang flats on River Road, it was crossbars that has become a barrier for the disabled.

Stumbling block: A ramp with handrails is provided at Taman Sri Pinang but disabled persons, especially those in wheelchairs, cannot proceed further with the locked crossbars blocking the building's entrance.

Although the ramp has handrails, it is not barrier-free as there are crossbars at the bottom to prevent motorcyclists from using the ramp.

Women’s Centre for Change (WCC) committee member Lim Kah Cheng, who is an ardent activist for people with special needs, said the bars could also be a hindrance during emergencies like fires.

She said ramps could be designed in a way that motorcyclists could not misuse them, adding that the Penang Municipal Council (MPPP) had agreed to look into the matter.

“Instead of a ramp, a winding path that motorcyclists will find difficult to manoeuvre their vehicles on can be considered. The council already has the design which is not costly to follow,” said Lim, who is also an MPPP councillor.

Her other complaints include the putting up of signboards, road signs, advertisement boards and other obstructing objects in the middle of pavements or walkways; and high pavements.

Lim said the trick would be to get things right the first time - constructing buildings and providing public facilities that were universal.

“If you build a ramp, build one that is for everybody. What is good for the disabled is good for everyone else,” she added.

Danger lurks: This bus stop at Jalan Dr Lim Chwee Leong is unsafe for disabled persons, especially for the visually impaired and those in wheelchairs.

MPPP president Datuk Zainal Rahim Seman, when contacted, said the council would take serious note of the problems faced by the disabled with the existing facilites.

“Our officers will conduct checks on these facilities to see if they comply with the required standards. If developers do not comply with building requirements, we will not grant them the CFs,” he added.

Sources: The Star

Bus drivers ignoring the disabled

By YIP YOKE TENG

SOME Malaysians seem to have forgotten the term “caring society”, which was enthusiastically promoted by the Government a few years ago.

It is said that bus drivers are among those who have turned a blind eye towards the needy, just to avoid the hassle.

A disabled person who only wants to be known as Rebecca has much to share about this.

The 54-year-old, who is semi-paralysed and needs assistance to board the public bus, said she had been ignored by bus drivers many times.

The senior citizen, who is single and lives alone, strives to be independent but the public transportation has posed a difficult challenge.

“The RapidKL bus drivers refuse to take me, they just drive past as though they did not see me. This morning alone, three drivers ignored me,” said the woman from Sanpeng Flats, who visited The Star’s Kuala Lumpur office to highlight her plight.

“I have complained to the officers at the bus stations and they just nod but I there is no change in the situation,’’ she said.

Beautiful Gate director Pastor Sia Siew Chin said they used to receive similar complaints from the disabled community but such cases had decreased over the past few years.

However, she said that disabled persons had difficulty using public transport even though RapidKL had allocated 100 disabled-friendly buses.

“The buses wheelchair ramp is too short and steep for us to board the bus. The only way around it is if the ramp is placed on a raised platform, but our bus stops do not facilitate that,” she added.

She said the disabled community had brought the matter up on numerous occasions but could only see the bus operator and local council passing the problem among themselves.

RapidKL chief executive officer Suffian Baharuddin said the company had engaged NGOs and disabled groups in an effort to come out with ways to serve the community better.

He added that the company and the groups recognised the lack of barrier-free amenities and had urged the local authorities to take the necessary measures.

As for disabled-persons ignored by bus drivers, he said the company took the matter seriously but needed the necessary information, including plate number, time and location from the passengers to identify the irresponsible drivers.

Source : The Star

McDonald Car Park For Disabled People

Looking at this picture, just curious why there are two colour tones for the disabled car parking lot?

A lot of premises perceive to have disabled facilities for the disabled people, however, are these facilities friendly enough for them?