Activists: Make concrete changes to Act for people with disabilities

KUALA LUMPUR: Persons with disabilities (PWDs) here continue to be seen as charity cases, rather than people with rights, said Malaysian Animal Assisted Therapy for the Disabled and Elderly Association president, T. Anthony Siva Balan.

A human rights-based approach means that individuals and communities have equal rights, and they should be fully supported to participate in the development of policy and practices which affect their lives.

In advanced countries, nurses go to the houses of PWDs to provide services, and in Australia and United Kingdom, the local councils make PWDs’ houses wheelchair-friendly, said Anthony, adding that PWDs in Malaysia continue to face obstacles such as access into buildings, toilets, healthcare and other services.

“We need concrete changes. Animals have more rights than PWDs in this country. While the Animal Welfare Act 2015 provides for a fine of up to RM100,000 for animal cruelty, PWDs cannot sue for acts of discrimination against them.

“The PWD Act 2008 is a sham. It’s absurd that you have a law but you can’t take action,” said Anthony, a paraplegic, as he commented on Malaysian Bar president Datuk Abdul Fareed Abdul Gafoor statement that the lives of persons PWDs have not improved in any meaningful way 10 years after the PWD Act 2008 was passed.

He said the PWD Act, enacted to implement the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, only incorporated selected objectives from the convention.

“Its relatively narrow language does not adopt the full spirit and intent of the convention,” he said Thursday in urging the government to sign and ratify the Optional Protocol to the Convention and to advocate for a review of the PWD Act.

Abdul Fareed said the Act, in its current form, lacks specific provisions that prohibit discrimination against PWDs, does not have provisions for judicial remedies and penalties for parties who fail to comply with the PWD Act while clearly excluding the government from being sued for any wrongdoing.

“If a PWD’s job is terminated, he or she cannot take the matter to court,” he said.

Independent Living and Training Centre Malaysia president G. Francis Siva also said the Act had not improved the lives of PWDs.

Moreover, a lack of public transport connectivity made it difficult for a PWD to travel or to move seamlessly within schools, said Francis, who became a quadriplegic after a motor vehicle accident 33 years ago.