Looking back
IT'S time to say goodbye again to another great year. This weekend, the whole world will be welcoming in a spanking new one.
As a tribute to 2011, let me recap some of the stories published in this column over the past 12 months.
The year began with me lamenting that my trips to doctors and dentists in private clinics and a government hospital were a major problem as these places were not wheelchair-accessible.
The government hospital in question, I'm sad to note, has not done much since then to be more wheelchair-friendly.
However, I'm delighted to report that I came across several private dental clinics in Petaling Jaya which made it a point to have their clinics on the ground floor rather than on the upper floors of shophouses with no lift access.
I met a new breed of doctors who were more than willing to go the extra mile for their patients. They had no qualms about making house visits to wheelchair-users to check on them and give them medication. Some even treated unemployed disabled patients and their pets for free. Syabas to these medical professionals for being a shining example to others.
Disabled-unfriendly buildings figured a lot in my columns this year. Frankly, I don't know which was the worst nightmare: The neglected disabled-friendly toilet with faeces all over the place or a rotting door in a top shopping complex in Petaling Jaya or being trapped in my car which broke down, with a big crowd in front of me but no rescuers who came to my aid.
Then there was the government training complex with a super swimming pool but no disabled-friendly toilet in the building. I couldn't believe my ears when I was directed to use the women's toilet because the men's toilet was upstairs!
Each and every organisation that I had criticised in this column called me up to say that they wanted to do something to change the situation. Personnel from a departmental store met up with me recently. They had rectified the shortcomings and come up with new and improved features for their disabled and elderly customers.
The most significant development for the disabled community was the move to set up disability committees within local councils throughout the country. This is the first time that the vital role of local councils in improving the lives of the handicapped has been addressed by the Government.
The way I see it, local councils are the best hope for Malaysians with disabilities to catch up with the rest of society. In the past, the local councils' neglect of the disabled's right to basic amenites such as accessibility within and outside buildings, had stymied their ability to lead normal lives. Local councils in Selangor have until next January to set up special committees which will be launched by the state government.
Access audit surveys to check if public buildings are accessible to wheelchairs and the blind, have been successfully conducted by the Federal and local governments, as well as NGOs in the Klang Valley. The Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) is the latest to join the bandwagon. Suhakam will be setting up a special committee of experts with disabilities, together with the planning and engineering departments of the Petaling Jaya City Council, to make spot checks on public buildings to see if they have disabled-friendly facilities.
Suhakam will come up with a special booklet based on their findings. The guidebook will advise the public on which places to patronise or avoid for wheelchair-friendly access in a sort of "name and shame exercise." Suhakam will also give out disabilty access best practice awards at the end of 2012.
Happy 2012, everyone!
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