Disabled people seek fairer deal

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.