During the Peer Counseling Workshop organised by the Jabatan Kebajikan Masyarakat Malaysia/Department of Social Welfare Malaysia (JKMM) and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) from June 25 – 28 at the Institut Latihan Majlis Kebajikan dan Pembangunan Masyarakat Kebangsaan Malaysia (MAKPEM), I conducted two training sessions. One of the was “How to Overcome Oppression and Change Society.” Below is an excerpt of my presentation:

What is disability? Is a person disabled because he is paralysed, blind or deaf? A more correct term to use in explaining these conditions is impairment – physical impairment or mobility impairment, visual impairment, hearing and speech impairment.

Being impaired in those ways do no necessarily make one a disabled person.

Lets look at the need of a wheelchair user. If there are buildings that wheelchair users can get into conveniently; if there are toilets that are accessible – large enough to accommodate wheelchairs; if there is public transport that wheelchair users can use.

If these conditions are fulfilled, the wheelchair user is no longer disabled.

Disability is not about us. Disability is not about us being physically paralysed, blind, deaf or learning impaired.

Disability is about society that creates barriers that disable us. Disability is about society with attitudes that disable us.

Society views us as people with extra needs that create problems that require extra cost and effort to resolve when in actual fact society is not doing enough to fulfil these needs to empower us – disabled persons – as a citizen and part of society.

We all have experienced oppression in one way or another, or in many ways. We have learnt about self oppression, familial oppression and societal oppression.

With the understanding that we are disabled through no fault of our own, we should find ways to communicate this to society that we can lead an equally fulfilling life just like anybody else given the opportunity.

The general perception of wheelchair users is that we are people with chronic medical conditions. In short, we are considered patients. That is furthest away from the truth. Wheelchair users are people who employ a different mode of mobility. Instead of using our legs to walk, we move around on wheelchairs. That is the only stark difference.

There have been cases where wheelchair users accompanying friends to hospitals were misconstrued by the nurses and doctors as people seeking medical attention. Likewise, I have experienced the same dilemma when accompanying my late mother to the hospital for her checkups.

While this is not a major issue, it is discomforting that society at large still sees wheelchair users with such mindsets. At a recent meeting regarding accessible public transport, there were suggestions to request for bus routes to specifically serve institutions for disabled persons and hospitals.

That is another misconception. Not all disabled persons live in institutions. Many live in the community. That is how it should be. At the same time, accessible buses should not only serve routes to hospitals. That should not be a priority but included as one of the routes.

True, many need to go to hospitals for regular checkups but that is not a major activity for disabled persons. It is more important that we are able to commute to work or school conveniently. Additionally, we also like to enjoy leisure activities such as trips to the malls or parks.

There are still a lot of misconceptions regarding disabilities and disabled persons. It is not totally the fault of society. Disabled persons themselves are the best advocate of change in such matters. By living in the community, we can gradually eliminate fallacies, build bridges and create an inclusive society where everyone is treated with respect and dignity.

*This entry first appeared in Monster Blog on October 3, 2006.