Offer help in a dignified manner

Access to public transport in our society is still a chief concern and problem for Malaysians with disabilities. No one more acute than for those with physical handicaps who have to use wheelchairs or walking aids in order to get around.  

It is also the reason why when you compare wheelchair users with blind people or the deaf, for instance, the former are more often in a far more disadvantaged position than the rest.

Most physically disabled persons remain trapped in their homes with poor quality of lives because they have no jobs.

They can't find employment because they never had the opportunity (public transport) to go to school when they were young. And now that they are older, they are still unable to take the bus to work in their wheelchairs.

In recent years, the introduction of "low-floor buses" (designed to make it easier for wheelchairs and the elderly to access them by significantly reducing the height of the vehicles) had raised the hopes of these neglected passengers.

But alas, the fact that the wheelchair ramps in the buses had to be manually fitted each time rather labouriously by the bus driver whenever a disabled passenger needed to get in and out, was a damper to the facility.

The buses should have been installed with the electronically operated ones instead, where the bus driver could just press a couple of switch buttons from his seat and get the hydraulic lift to do the work, saving precious time for all passengers concerned.

Furthermore, with bus stops not designed by the local councils to be wheelchair-friendly in order to cater for such pick-ups and drop-offs, it is a virtual living nightmare for the disabled to use them, and find themselves stranded somewhere as a result. 

So it was not surprising to see why news of a brand new initiative in Petaling Jaya, Selangor, by three DAP state assemblymen, Rajiv Rishyakaran, Yeo Bee Yin and Lau Weng San, to try and solve the transportation woes of the poor (where the disabled are included), came as good news at first.

This was announced last week in Yeo's blog.

The assemblymen had kicked off a timely social assistance programme called "STP" with a cab company to provide free taxi rides for low-income families.

They have also included "the underprivileged and the disabled" in the Klang Valley area in the scheme.

Despite its good intentions, a closer inspection of the plan looks like there are many other issues they haven't quite considered, especially where disabled persons are concerned.

And sad to say, the devil is really in the details.

Here are some of my concerns:

• The taxis: They are regular cars - not vans, that can take in wheelchairs with the user sitting on them. This means physical transfers will be necessary of the persons from their wheelchairs into the car seat and back again. Not everyone will be able to do the transfers on their own. They will require help. Have some basic training been given to these taxi drivers on this? If not, will it? Transfers - when not done properly - can result in injury.

Are the car boots big enough for wheelchairs, or will they have to be put in the back seats? Are the drivers okay with that? Some wheelchairs can be dismantled. Do the drivers know how to do it?   

• Criteria for applicants: Why must the venue only be to hospitals, the registration department and the welfare office? What about to the market to do the groceries or a visit to the park (for therapeutic reasons, if you like) or even visiting their family members?

Sticking to the list of boring places in the form gives an image as if all disabled (and poor) people should be seen as sick people in our society.

Why a letter from a doctor? Have you any idea how difficult they are to get because of the red tape involved? In fact, requesting so many private and confidential documents just to get a ride in the taxi will only rob them of their dignity and feelings of self-worth.

Doing this, actually, makes you no different from the complaints the disabled have of the welfare department who frowns on aid beneficiaries having satellite TVs and refrigerators.

Why must applicants be Malaysian citizens? Isn't the sole purpose of this exercise to help the poor? And why must they be a resident for at least 10 years of the selected areas before qualifying for the taxi?   

While it is a good start for all the respective assemblymen to look into concrete ways in making life easy for the poor and the disabled, they should start paying more attention to ensuring that the built environment becomes more friendly for all citizens with disabilities, so that one day the latter will no longer need such services when all barriers have been removed - whether architectural or attitudinal.

For more information on the STP programme, please go to: http://www.yeobeeyin.com/2015/04/skim-teksi-percuma.html – April 27, 2015.