The good, the bad and the ugly

It's a wrap, folks, as 2015 comes to an end on Thursday, making way for the new year on Friday.

In my column today, I thought I would check out some of the major issues and stories I covered over the last 12 months.

I decided to focus on the ones with the most lessons to learn about life and disability, spoken from experience by those who were personally struggling.

At the start of the year I had the honour of sharing a true story of an inspiring mother of a seven-year-old boy with a disability.

Her child not only has one disability but multiple handicaps. Not only that but the boy's condition sometimes makes him to injure himself unknowingly.

This is because he has a sensory problem. He does not understand or realise that he is inflicting injury or pain on himself.

Because of this, pore tapes are used on his fingers in order to prevent him from hurting himself.

One of the hardest thing for a mother to do is to get the public to understand what her son is going through. Some strangers even confront her in public mistakenly thinking that she is abusing her son by tying him up.

Her worst experience was when she was confronted during lunch by a stranger. He kept staring at her son and shockingly asked, "Is it something you ate, or did wrong during pregnancy that made your son an 'aborigine' and 'shouting and acting like a monkey'?"

Mum's reply to the rude man was, "My son never asked to be born this way. He is multi-disabled, and a non-verbal and non-walking person who is merely trying his best to communicate in the only way he knows how to.”

"He is a very beautiful boy – and it's so sad that you can't see it. If you would allow yourself to see him with an unbiased view, you would realise that too!"

Needless to say it was a powerful lesson about what real blindness and human ugliness was all about.

However, it isn't only the disabled who are treated disrespectfully.

Migrant workers are treated cruelly too. Some of them can be extreme and outrageous.

I was shocked to hear another true life incident of how a domestic worker was mistreated. Despite working for a Malaysian employer for more than five years, she wasn't paid a salary or given a day off.

When the employer finally did pay her off but not before getting her agent to get rid of her back to her own country.

The agent unbelievably forced her to swim to the boat. Unable to swim, she struggled for her dear life in the sea and somehow made it back to land and to a shelter for domestic workers.

Migrant workers in our country really ought to be treated better by allowing their personal passports to be held by them instead of the employers, get one paid day off, and have their salaries put into their personal bank account each month, among other things.

A bit of good news now. Many persons with disabilities and the elderly are glad that the question put forward by the government about whether or not pharmacies should be the only ones to dispense medication has been put off for now.

What a relief. Patients can continue to get their medication from their doctors after visits to their clinics – and not have to look for a pharmacy elsewhere to get them.

For disabled people, sometimes it is more pragmatic to go to the nearest clinic to your home for quick help. These include for emergencies like a fever, stomach upset or a migraine.

And some kind doctors will even go as far as to entertain their wheelchair patients on the phone. I know of several who will even step out from their clinics and attend to you in your car.

This makes it a whole lot easier than attempting to get into their private clinics which often lack wheelchair access.

One of the issues foremost on many disabled Malaysians' minds is the goods and services tax (GST) which was imposed on all Malaysians about six months ago.

People with disabilities, was the GST waived, pointing out that it is a further and unkind strain on their living and quality of life. They are asking the government to provide the waiver through their disabled identification provided by the Welfare Department.

This is something some key groups for the disabled plan on doing by meeting up with the Women, Family and Community Development Minister Datuk Seri Rohani Abdul Karim in early 2016.

Fingers crossed everyone, and have a happy new year. – December 28, 2015.

* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insider.