Corporations, Education And People Living With Disabilities

 

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By Jam mes TS Chua a It was with w much expectation e that I atten nded the public forum on the Persons P with Disabilitie es Act 2008 8 at the Malaysian Bar • Councill on 17th Ja anuary 2009 9. People with various disabilities d • (PWDs) were to con nverge and discuss perrtinent issue es they face. I believed b tha at this would d be an extraordinarily y positive step tow ward social inclusion of o PWDs. Howeve er, after the conclusion n of the foru um, I felt so omewhat shortch hanged. The e Act in its entirety e is not n satisfacttory and there is s definitely more m room for improve ement in th he Act. I thoughtt perhaps corporations s could help p with these e issues but no corporation ns were pres sent at the forum. That is a big shame because there t is one e immediate e area of improve ement that CSR-oriente ed business ses can look k into.

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Education has long g been a priiority of nattion-building. Yet, a parent shared s thatt she had tried every means m of enrrolling her Down Syndrome’s S daughter in n all the ava ailable schools (both general and specia al) in vain, either e becau use the teac chers were not pas ssionate abo out teaching g or not serrious in caring for disabled d children. The Actt stipulates in section 28 2 that “Perrsons with disabilities d shall no ot be exclud ded from the general education sy ystem on the basis of disabilities, and children c with disabilitie es shall not be excluded e from pre-school, primarry, secondarry and higher education, e o equal ba on asis with persons or ch hildren withoutt disabilities s, including vocational training an nd lifelong learning g.” Would th his not be remiss of these schools s to ignore this mo other’s desirre to have her h daughte er educated like anyone else? A Special Education lecturer frrom UKM ev ven revealed d that there is s still a long g way to traiining student-teachers to properly teach and d care for su uch children n. If a teacher, a highly regarded r representativ ve of the rea al world, can nnot even master the basic signs for com mmunicatio on with Deaff studentts, what would this tell about the state of ourr local educational institutions?

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Perhap ps businesse es can discu uss with non-governme ental organisations and d implemen nt a long-terrm educatio on model pllan that inclludes schoo ol buildings with disabled-friendly y facilities and provision of special equipm ment at zero o or affordab ble repayme ent rates. Cheap C or zero stu udent fees can c be offerred and a se elect pool of o well-trained teachers s may be paid enough h to convince them to dedicate d the eir attention n to disabled students. Apart frrom the imp provement of o educational facilities, CSR businesses can also think of o supportting PWDs in higher ed ducational in nstitutions. Althoug gh there hav ve been media mention ns of disablled graduates (blind, D Deaf and wheelch hair-bound) in universities, I wond der how much the gene eral public u understands about the fina ancial strugg gle of a parrent to put such s a child d through university stu udies. University educatio on does nott come chea ap nowaday ys, more so for disabled d students who w generally come fro om low-income and low wer middle-iincome fam milies. In add dition, special equipm ment and tra anslation services may come into the t picture for a disabled student,, which add on to the finan ncial burden n. The monthly allowan nce of RM30 00 by the W Welfare Depa artment for high her educatio on disabled students is s just enoug gh to pay fo or the meals s and transp port. I have a less well-to o-do friend who is able e to study Graphic G Design in a pre estigious loc cal university because of a genero ous scholarrship from a well-know wn property company. He H since then ha as consisten nt good grad des and is due d to graduate this Ju uly. If only more m CSR-b businesses can c step forrward and commit them mselves to p provide a stteady stream of scholarships for deserving disa abled stude ents especia ally in this e economic downturn. By this similar s toke en, business ses would also a do well to hire these talented people after their graduation. n line with the t Act’s vis sion of seein ng disabled d people hav ving “the rig ght to This willl then be in access to t employm ment on equ ual basis witth persons without w disabilities.” The pub blic forum has h been an n eye-opene er in terms of o how muc ch we are so orely lacking g in educational progre ess for disabled studen nts. From th his point, I hope h that CSR-business ses will take the e opportuniity to bring cheer to disabled stud dents and th heir families s via better provisio on of educa ational facilities and education spo onsorship.◊ ◊

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James TSS Chua is a freeelance writerr and an advoocate for thosee who are livinng with disabiilities.