Disabled in East Java struggle for inclusion
Disabled in East Java struggle for inclusion
Indra Harsaputra, The Jakarta Post, Surabaya
Koey Chen An rolled through the Rungkut housing complex in
Surabaya in his customized wheelchair, oblivious to the steady
rain that was falling as he delivered household cleaning products
to customers.
Chen An, 38, who has been paralyzed since contracting polio at
the age of three months, has customized his otherwise standard
wheelchair with a canopy to keep off the sun and rain, and a
"trunk" where he stores the bottles of cleaners he makes and
sells.
No matter how many features he adds to his wheelchair,
however, it will never be a match for a car, as he has discovered
on the several occasions he has been involved in traffic
accidents after being forced into the street because there is no
special lane for disabled people.
"I guess that is the risk of being disabled in Surabaya. But I
kept on and made my deliveries because my customers were waiting
for me," he told The Jakarta Post.
Chen An's work, which brings in a daily profit of about Rp
30,000 (US$3), requires him to go from house to house to sell his
cleaning products. Because of a lack of wheelchair access, he has
at times found himself crawling to a person's front door. And his
reception is not always warm, on one or two memorable occasions
even finding himself being pelted with stones.
Despite the obstacles, over the last seven years Chen An has
succeeded in building up his business of making and selling floor
cleaners, motorcycle cleaners, clothing deodorizers and liquid
soaps. He now has a list of 150 regular customers, although at
first many people doubted the quality of his products.
"Now people prefer my products because they are cheaper than
similar products sold in supermarkets," said Chen An, who was
born in Samarinda, East Kalimantan, and has lived in Surabaya
since 1980.
He is among the thousands of disabled people in East Java who
have overcome the lack of public facilities for the disabled to
enter and thrive in the workforce.
Wuri Handayani, a local coordinator for the International Day
of Disabled Persons, which fell on Saturday, criticized the
provincial government for failing to provide facilities for the
disabled.
"Disabled people have a lot of difficulty trying to get around
town or take public transportation. It seems like we are second-
class citizens here," Wuri said.
She talked about a man she knows, a wheelchair-user, who was
unable to pray in the one of the province's largest mosques
because security guards refused to allow him into the mosque with
his wheelchair.
But she and other disabled people in East Java continue to
fight for their rights. Currently, they are urging the provincial
administration to approve a draft bylaw on public services for
the disabled which is currently being deliberated.