Access for disabled mere decoration
M. Taufiqurrahman, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
A considerable number of state and private-owned buildings in the capital have provided access for people with disabilities, but according to an advocacy group, they are little more than decoration as most of them are useless.
The Indonesian Association of Women with Disabilities (HWPCI) chairwoman, Ariani Abdul Mun'im, said on Thursday that a number of shopping malls, government office buildings and prayer houses had built parking lots, lifts and toilets for the disabled.
"But the facilities do not comply with the standards set by the now-defunct ministry of public works," she told The Jakarta Post, referring to a ministerial decree No. 468/1998 on access for the disabled.
The decree stipulates that a handicapped ramp must be built according to a 1:12 ratio, meaning that a 12-meter-long access has to be built for each one-meter-high set of stairs.
However, some buildings apply a 1:6 ratio which means that a disabled person still has to count on other's help to get up a ramp, said Ariani, who has a visual impairment.
She said that shopping malls such as the Kelapa Gading Mall in North Jakarta had in fact provided parking areas accessible for the disabled but the areas are frequently occupied by regular users.
"In other malls, the parking lots are also too narrow for a wheelchair to move around," she added.
Moreover, Ariani said, the existing facilities for the disabled were, for the most part, poorly maintained.
"We found that the heightened-platform to accommodate the disabled in phone booths have been lowered to the original position. While the Braille on several sidewalks have been obstructed by huge pots," she said, citing the result of a survey conducted by the HWCPI, the Jakarta Architect's Club and School of Civil Engineering at Trisakti University in 2001.
The survey also found that from over 30 public facilities surveyed, only Gambir railway station in Central Jakarta had parking lots, elevators, toilets, public phones and walkways that are accessible for the disabled.
The railway station is one of the pilot-project sites providing access for disabled persons. The project started during the administration of then president Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid, who is partly visually disabled and whose wife is confined to a wheelchair.
Ariani concluded the poor state of access for the disabled highlighted the negligence of building contractors and managers in upholding the rights of the disabled.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has estimated that 10 percent of the Indonesia's 220 million population had some disability.
The HWCPI recorded 10 percent of 12 million people living in Jakarta and surrounding municipalities as disabled.
Separately, vice president of World Blind Union Asia Pacific, Daniel Tangkesalu, said the discrimination against the disabled has yet to reduce despite the government's policy to ease their access to public facilities and services.
Citing an example, he said most public transportation drivers declined to let the disabled on board although the latter is willing to pay the fare double.
"They have a perception that disabled people will only cause them trouble," he told the Post.