Apartheid for disabled still persists

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.