Disabled people seek fairer deal

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Jakarta Disabled People's Forum has urged the City Council to introduce a bylaw requiring better access facilities for the city's disabled.

Forum spokesman Bagus Supriyanto told a hearing with the council's education, health and public welfare commission on Tuesday that better access would help the disabled to live independently.

"We are not only asking for wheelchairs and white sticks, but also that we be afforded better opportunities to develop ourselves like other citizens," said Bagus.

Dozens of disabled people visited the council on Tuesday, accompanied by activists from the Jakarta Residents Forum (Fakta).

In the job market, blind people, for example, were often confined to working as masseurs or masseuses even though they could actually perform other jobs, like working as telephone operators.

"We hope that we will be given the opportunity to work in city owned-companies, the city administration, and private-sector firms," he said.

In education, Bagus said that disabled people should have the same opportunities as other residents to participate both in the formal and informal education sectors.

He also expressed the hope that disabled people would be given access to the financial schemes run by the city administration so that they could start their own businesses. In addition, he said that there needed to be improvements to facilitate the disabled on public transportation and in public places.

Fakta chairman Azas Tigor Nainggolan said his organization would help the Council to draft such a bylaw.

Commission E chairman Dani Anwar agreed with the proposal to draft a bylaw and said he would discuss it with Council leaders before starting the project.