NGOs back call to amend the Persons with Disabilities Act 2008 to strengthen provisions against discrimination of the disabled.
PETALING JAYA: The government has been urged to give greater recognition to the rights of disabled persons by amending the primary disability law.
Two NGOs serving the community – Boleh Space, and Deaf Advocacy and Well-Being National Organisation (Dawn) – said rights accorded to disabled persons should be seen in the same light as human rights.
Boleh Space co-founder Yana Karim said a greater acknowledgement of disability rights would raise awareness of the need for society to remove structural, legislative and societal barriers encountered by people with disabilities.
She said Malaysia should amend the Persons with Disabilities Act 2008 to strengthen provisions that outlaw discrimination of disabled persons, especially in the education, health and employment sectors.
Such discrimination includes the lack of disabled-friendly facilities in schools, a lack of sign-language interpreters in hospitals, and hurtful comments at workplaces.
Yana was commenting on a call by the OKU Rights Matter Project, an initiative pushing for amendments to the Act to better protect the rights of people with disabilities, and bring it on par with the laws of other countries in the region.
She also called for the establishment of an independent disability commission to advise the government on policies and programmes for people with disabilities.
The commission can also oversee a tribunal set up to hear the grievances of disabled people about discrimination which they encounter, Yana said.
“Both the tribunal and commission must include at least 70% disabled advocates who are knowledgeable and trained in disability rights and come from two different disability groups,” she said.
Dawn co-founder Anthony Chong said there is a lack of data on disabled people in the country, with existing government data typically containing only the name, gender, address and disability type.
“We need data on a person’s health, education and financial status, as well as details about their workplace,” Chong said.
He said a centre run by disabled people could be set up to collect and analyse such data to enable the provision of better support to people with disabilities.
