Man aims to make P’pang OKU-friendly
PENAMPANG: It is not easy to go into a bank to use the bank’s auto teller machine (ATM) when you are wheelchair bound like Francis Xavier Kinjin, 34.
With stairs to climb, Francis now opts to get down from his wheelchair, pull it up and scrambles up with stairs with one arm, and then climb back on when he reaches the entrance.
He finds that he cannot depend on the kindness of people around him, after one incident that caused him to lose all the money in his bank account.
“I went to the bank once. It was difficult for me to move with my wheelchair because the place for the ATM is not OKU (short term for people with disability) friendly. So, I ask the people around for assistance to help me withdraw cash using my ATM card,” he said.
“I asked a person to help me withdraw RM50. The next day, my mom went to withdraw some more cash but there was none left. But I know that I still have some money in the bank. I was not satisfied and brought the matter up with the bank’s staff and only then did I find out that the person withdrew two times – one for RM50 and another for RM200. I only received RM50 from the person. So, I learned my lesson not to ask for help from people. From then on I decided it was better for me if I pull up my wheelchair to the ATM and travel up the stairs with my arm rather than ask people for help.”
If the bank had only installed an OKU-friendly pathway for the wheelchair bound, people like Francis won’t fall victim to unscrupulous individuals who don’t even think twice about ripping off people who are suffering hardship.
On closer inspection, the bank concerned, located in Penampang, does have a pathway for the OKU, but it doesn’t lead directly to the ATM.
During weekends, when the bank is closed, people would have to climb up the stairs to get to the ATM. An easy feat for those who can walk, but for the wheelchair bound, it is not what we would say “a piece of cake”.
Realising the challenges facing people with the same predicament as him, Francis has started raising the issue of “OKU friendly” facilities for Penampang, which it apparently lacks.
He has brought up the matter on the social media for the last four years.
He has posted a video of him struggling up the stairs as pulling his wheelchair, as well as photographs of him trying to maneuver up the five-foot walkways at Donggongon because they are not at ground level. There are also no ramps to allow people who are on a wheelchair, or even mothers pushing their babies on strollers, the ease of getting on the fivefoot walkways.
So far, he has gotten 5,000 “friends” on Facebook, which is the maximum allowed.
Unfortunately, despite having met the Yang Berhormat (YBs) to personally air the problem faced by people with mobility issues, nothing has been done.
“The YB promised during the launch of the Chinese New Year celebration at the tamu that Penampang would be OKU friendly. But I haven’t seen a single action towards that end,” he said, disappointedly.
That was the reason he decided to take the issue up on the social media.
“This way, everyone will know … I am tired of writing letters that are not acted upon. I write countless times and they do not act. So, I decided using FB (Facebook) as my platform,” he said.
Surprisingly and strangely, his good intention which will definitely help many OKUs now and in the future, still receives contemptuous comments from netizens who probably, out of their ignorance and lack of awareness, do not look to the future that one day, with age, their limbs will weaken and they too will need to use mobility tools such as the wheelchair to get around someday.
“That’s why I always say in my posting for those who do not understand that life on a wheelchair is hard. If they don’t believe it, they can try it,” he concluded, hoping that the public would take heed of OKUs’ predicament.