1,200 disabled take part in special sports festival
1,200 disabled take part in special sports festival
JAKARTA (JP): A one-day sports and recreation festival is
planned for tomorrow for 1,200 disabled people and their
families.
The event, organized by the Special Olympics Foundation of
Indonesia, will take place in Kuningan, South Jakarta, organizers
said Tuesday.
The activities, including marches, workouts, performances and
a bazaar, will begin at 7 a.m. in Taman Patra Kuningan and on Jl.
Patra Kuningan XI.
It is being held in conjunction with the International Day for
the Disabled, which falls on Dec. 5, and National Society
Solidarity Day on Dec. 20. The festival is also being held to
celebrate the 39th anniversary of the Asih Budi Foundation, a
foundation for the disabled which is also organizing the event.
Asih Budi was set up Dec. 28, 1957.
Participants, particularly those with mental disabilities,
come from the city and surrounding areas. The event is for 16-
year-olds upwards.
Retno Astoeti Aryanto, the Special Olympics Foundation
chairwoman, said sports could improve participants' physical
conditions, besides teaching them sportsmanship.
She said sports activities are also a medium for participants,
especially children, to adjust in society.
The Special Olympics Foundation of Indonesia, established in
1989, organizes sports activities and competitions once every two
years for the disabled.
It also organizes sports competitions on a national scale
every four years prior to the Special Olympics International
Games. The local games provide talent scouting for the
international event.
Ten out of the 15 participants won gold medals at the First
Asia Pacific Regional Special Olympics Games held in Shanghai,
China, in November this year.
Last year, in the World Special Olympics in Connecticut, the
United States, 13 of the 27 athletes carried gold medals home.
The foundation also trains the mentally disabled athletes and
provides coaching clinics throughout the year.
Minarni Soedaryanto, a former national badminton champion who
is also a member of the foundation, urged other former athletes
to volunteer for the foundation's program.
The foundation's patron, Sri Sumarsih Surjadi Soedirdja, the
wife of the governor, pointed out the lack of legal rights for
the disabled here.
"All countries in Southeast Asia, except for Indonesia, have
established laws which protect the rights of the disabled," she
said. Sri said she hoped the draft law on the disabled would be
ratified next year by the House of Representatives.
The Ministry of Social Affairs revealed that 0.4 percent of
the country's population have mental disabilities, with IQs under
70.
Retno said many parents here do not treat their mentally
disabled children properly. Unable to accept their children's
condition, the parents tend to isolate the children and
overprotect them, as well as underestimate their abilities, she
said.
The children are often kept in the house because the cost of
educating mentally retarded children is quite high, she added.
There are 56 schools for mentally disabled children in the
city. The schools divide the students into two sections: those
who can be taught basic subjects, and those who can only be
trained in survival skills, such as eating or tying shoes.
The city also has three homes for the mentally disabled, but
Retno said she did not encourage sending children to these homes.
"What they really need is love and attention from their
families," Retno, who also has a mentally disabled child, said.
(02)