Government asked to provide special facilities for the disabled<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Despite the apparent minimal use of existing
\nfacilities for the disabled, calls for the government to provide
\nspecial facilities for the physically challenged in public places
\nare increasing.<\/p>\n
Otje Soedioto from the Indonesian National Board for Persons
\nwith Different Abilities (DNPCI) noted that few public buildings
\nare accessible to the disabled.<\/p>\n
The former journalist for the now defunct Berita Yudha daily
\nhowever conceded said that the facilities already provided such
\nas those at the Gambir railway station in Central Jakarta, were
\nnot being optimally used.<\/p>\n
The railway station is equipped with special services to
\nfacilitate the blind and persons in wheelchairs.<\/p>\n
The services were inaugurated by President Abdurrahman Wahid
\nin June last year.<\/p>\n
\"But now it's still unclear whether they are being optimally
\nused,\" Otje told The Jakarta Post in a telephone interview on
\nSaturday.<\/p>\n
President Abdurrahman is himself almost blind while First Lady
\nSinta Nuriyah uses a wheelchair for mobility.<\/p>\n
\"If you ever go to the presidential palace, if it weren't for
\nthe first lady, there would be no physical access for persons in
\nwheelchairs there,\" Otje added.<\/p>\n
The railway station is the only station in Jakarta which is
\nequipped with special telephone booths, a ticket window,
\nrestrooms and a parking lot for the blind and the wheelchair-
\nbound.<\/p>\n
Such facilities are also available in train stations in
\nBandung, Yogyakarta and Surabaya.<\/p>\n
Otje maintained that these special facilities are not used
\nmuch because information on their existence is not widely
\ndisseminated.<\/p>\n
\"Or maybe because they (the disabled) simply don't have the
\nnecessity to go to Gambir station,\" he added.<\/p>\n
Nur, a blind masseur in her 40s, admitted that she had never
\nheard of the facilities provided for people with disabilities at
\nGambir railway station.<\/p>\n
\"I didn't know about that, and I don't know anybody who has
\never used the facilities,\" the mother of two told the Post on
\nSaturday afternoon.<\/p>\n
Residing in Jakarta since 1981, Nur prefers to go back to her
\nvillage near Semarang, Central Java, by bus since she is not
\nfamiliar with the railway station.<\/p>\n
\"Even if I had to go by train, it would be with my relatives
\nand it would always be from the Jatinegara railway station which
\nis nearer to my house,\" the resident of Jl. Pancoran Timur, South
\nJakarta, said.<\/p>\n
Gambir's deputy stationmaster Mul A. Mauluddin said the
\nstation would soon also be equipped with special elevators for
\nwheelchair-bound persons.<\/p>\n
\"The users of these facilities are mostly people in
\nwheelchairs, along with old and sick people who need to be
\nwheeled to the train.\"<\/p>\n
\"Other disabled people, like the blind, are usually
\naccompanied. I have only seen two blind persons on their own who
\nused the facilities in Gambir,\" he told the Post on Sunday.<\/p>\n
Minister of Justice and Human Rights Yusril Ihza Mahendra said
\nearlier that in order to protect the disabled's rights of access
\nto public facilities, his office would send a circular to the
\nministries concerned reminding them that public transportation
\nand buildings should be equipped with these facilities.(bby)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/government-asked-to-provide-special-facilities-for-the-disabled-1447893297",
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