Apartheid for disabled still persists

Debbie A. Lubis, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

There are millions of people
Surviving in a boundless labyrinth
Since all the doors are almost closed
Should our heart and soul be as feigned
as this plastic flower?
While actually we...
Walk on the same road
Stand on the same Earth

A short poem titled Society For All, Let's Care More was attached to each stalk of the artificial roses handed out recently by hundreds of disabled people from Greater Jakarta at the Hotel Indonesia traffic circle.

Disabled people -- young and old, men and women -- gathered to appeal to the general public for a significant change of perspective toward them in observance of the International Day of Disabled Persons on Dec. 3.

Their message was clear: They do not want the public to view them as a burden to society, but as contributing individuals that bear the same societal responsibilities as others, and are ready, willing and able to be involved in everyday life.

The deaf, the mute, the blind, the paraplegic and others with physical impairments organized the commemoration and proudly demonstrated their different abilities before the coordinating minister for peoples' welfare and the ministers of social affairs, religious affairs and resettlement and regional infrastructure.

"Actually, we had hoped that the President could come to this event," said Ismet Mahir, who chaired the event.

A group of blind people played instrumental songs by using angklung (suspended bamboo tubes which make a sound when shaken). Other disabled people then recited poems and sang. The atmosphere was uplifting to the uninformed observer.

"All of us, if allowed, can and will contribute in all aspects of community life and may become self-sufficient if we have the chance to enjoy equal opportunities to acquire an education, land a decent job, have a family and gain access to public places and means of transportation," paraplegic Dera Maya Sofi told The Jakarta Post. "Think of what we could do," she said.

There are at least 17 rulings that require governmental institutions, private sectors and civil society to consider the rights of the disabled in their policy strategies.

Those rulings include decrees on the provision of equipment, facilities and services for the disabled in public places, educational institutions, shopping centers, offices, means of transportation and housing.

The implementation of these rulings, however, has been scantily applied.

Only a few city buses in Jakarta are wheelchair accessible and many of them are in poor condition.

"They (hydraulic lifts and space for a wheelchair) apply only to buses on certain routes. Even if the bus provides these facilities, they have been vandalized or several people are occupying (the space reserved for wheelchairs) because the bus conductor wants more money," Dera, who conducted a small survey, said.

Public places, such as trains and bus stations, offices and places of worship, rarely have wheelchair accessible elevators or bathrooms.

The disabled can no longer access Gambir train station, where a pilot project to make it wheelchair accessible was launched by the government two years ago. A train schedule board in braille has been vandalized, the wheelchair ramps are in disrepair due to a lack of maintenance and the toilet cubicles outfitted with handrails are too small to accommodate wheelchairs.

The government has been negligent in enforcing the law.

As a result, most disabled individuals are forced to become beggars after they have been denied work by prospective employers, while many are not accepted by most school authorities on the grounds that they would not fit into industrial or scholastic activities.

"I was refused entry into a senior vocational school for household skills (SMKK) because of my impaired eyesight," said Nine Rahman, who has had a vision impairment since birth.

According to Ulya Latifah, the principal of the Lab School General High School in Jakarta, some schools do not accept the disabled because there is a lack of adequate facilities for them.

"We accept those who are confined to a wheelchair because they would have access to classrooms. But we cannot accept those with blurred vision or the deaf-mute since we don't have any supporting equipment for their daily learning activities," she said.

Minister of Social Affairs Bachtiar Chamsyah said that his ministry had provided some centers with sheltered workshops for the disabled in every province in a bid to enable them to assimilate into the work force. However, the ministry have no longer been able to monitor these activities since the implementation of regional autonomy.

He also said that it was impossible to insist on requiring companies to hire disabled people while they were struggling to survive the financial crisis.

Paraplegic legislator Fikri Thalib said that structural and cultural discrimination had contributed to the disabled taking a back seat when it comes to public policy.

"Such discrimination has its roots in society's notion that the disabled are people who are unlucky, weak, disabled and suffering," he said.

Fikri, who is also the chairman of the Advocacy Committee for People with Different Abilities (Kapci) said that the public needs to reject these notions because it would only make the disabled become viewed as people with no abilities who are always dependent on others.

"There is a better way, and we will find it," he said.