Disabilities should not hinder rights
Disabilities should not hinder rights
JAKARTA (JP): Physical accessibility in public life for the
country's six million disabled persons is needed to improve their
welfare, Minister of Health and Social Welfare Achmad Sujudi said
on Friday.
"Anyone can become disabled or crippled and being handicapped
should not hinder a persons rights in their daily lives," Sujudi
told a media briefing on the commemoration of International Day
for Disabled Persons which will fall on Sunday.
Indonesians should be proud of having two outstanding
individuals, President Abdurrahman Wahid and First Lady Sinta
Nuriyah -- who happen to be disabled persons -- leading this
country, the minister said.
"The two are extraordinary ... brave people demonstrating to
the world that being disabled is not an obstacle to achieving
outstanding contributions," Sujudi said.
The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates the number of
disabled people in a country is about 10 percent of the total
population.
The minister further cited examples of how limited access and
facilities obstructed the activities of disabled people.
"So far only Gambir Railway Station has facilities for
disabled persons. Other public places have yet to provide them,"
Sujudi said.
"There are many people who still discriminate against disabled
people," Sularso, Executive Director of the Indonesia National
Board for Social Welfare (DNIKS), said.
He cited the fact that disabled people still have limited
opportunity to work, although there was a regulation guaranteeing
equal treatment.
Presidential Decree No. 43/1999 on the Coordinating
Institution on Disabled People's Social Welfare Improvement,
stipulates that there should be one disabled employee for every
hundred employees in a company.
"If a company violates the regulation, it has to pay a Rp 100
million (US$10,638) fine. But there is no implementation of the
law," said Mrs. Sugeng Supari of International Rehabilitation, a
nongovernmental organization.
The country currently has 14 houses for disabled people and
three social rehabilitation centers. The management of 23 other
institutions has been transferred to regional authorities in
accordance with the regional autonomy.
Pudji Astuti, deputy chairperson for Social Rehabilitation and
Services at the National Social Welfare Agency (BKSN) said that
annually, only 73,000 disabled people in Indonesia received
proper treatment.
There are also a total of 4,572 community business groups set
up to help the disabled, with mobile social service units in 26
provinces.
Settlements and facilities for lepers are available in eight
provinces.
The official commemoration of International Day for Disabled
Persons will be marked with the declaration of Piagam Millennium
III by First Lady Sinta Nuriyah at the Presidential Palace on
Sunday, containing an urgent call for the government and
international community to recognize and put into reality the
rights of disabled people.
The declaration will be handed over to the President.
The United Nations marked the international day with a theme
of "Making Information Technology Work for All".
"In 1948, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights stated
that 'everyone has the right to participate freely in the
cultural life of the community' and 'to share in scientific
advancement and its benefits'," UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan
said in a written message.
"Unless Information Technology is truly accessible for all,
the potential for information to empower all countries and all
people will not be realized. We must break through the barriers
that stand between technology and the users -- whether technical,
psychological, physical or financial," Annan stated. (04/edt)