Blind renew equal opportunity demands
Blind renew equal opportunity demands
JAKARTA (JP): Blind masseurs are often seen walking through
housing complexes in the evening, seeking people who require
their services.
The question is why are so many blind people attempting to eke
out a living with their massage skills, when the Constitution
guarantees all citizens equal opportunities in obtaining an
education and employment in all fields?
Setia Adi Purwanta of the Yogyakarta-based Dria Manunggal
Foundation lamented on Monday the long-standing stigma imposed by
the government and society on people with different abilities,
marking them as incapable and unable to take any role in the
community.
"It's a very discriminatory way of thinking. It's not the
question of being able or not, but we have never been given the
chance to contribute to society," he told The Jakarta Post here
on the sidelines of a four-day training seminar for the blind.
Setia, who lost his vision 25 years ago in an accident,
insisted that the government revise the national education system
to put the blind and other people with different abilities on the
same level with other students.
"We have submitted a counterdraft of the education law to the
House of Representatives, which offers a more humane education
and obliges the government to take full responsibility for its
enforcement," he said, adding that the deliberation of the bill
is expected to start in October.
Under the proposed education system, all schools would be
required to admit students with different abilities.
The executive director of the non-governmental group Yayasan
Mitra Netra, Bambang Basuki, said the state should not evade its
responsibility to provide special services and facilities for
people with different abilities, particularly since many
disabilities were the result of development.
"The state has failed to provide jobs and social security,
while accidents can happen at anytime which can cause people to
suffer some form of impairment. But now we are considered the
burden of society. Society still treats us as less human. This I
cannot understand," he told the Post.
Yayasan Mitra Netra, which focuses on education and human
resource development for the blind, is holding leadership
training to help the younger generation maintain the struggle for
their rights.
The event's steering committee chairwoman, Aria Indrawati,
said less than 1 percent of eight million visually impaired
people in the country received a proper education that would
allow them to compete with others, especially in seeking
employment.
Meanwhile, the vice chairman of the Indonesian Legal Aid and
Human Rights Association, Harry Wibowo, said the association
would provide legal aid for people with different abilities whose
rights were abused. (bby)