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KUALA LUMPUR – The provision of a quota for people with disabilities (PwD)in the MyStep programme under Budget 2022, which was tabled in the Dewan Rakyat yesterday, will help reduce the rate of unemployment among disabled graduates, said Senate representative for the disabled Datuk Ras Adiba Radzi.
Ras Adiba, who is also the president of OKU Sentral, said the initiative would assist in providing employment as well as ensuring the subsistence of disabled youths.
“The extension of the PenjanaKerjaya programme, which had a positive impact on JaminKerja, is a good move by the government.
“This will enable more PwDs to get quality employment according to their qualifications, and ensure they are self-reliant without depending on other people,” she said in a statement here yesterday.
She said apart from that, the RM30 million allocated to upgrade the infrastructure of government buildings so that they are PwD-friendly will enable these buildings to comply with Section 34A of the Uniform Building By-Laws 1984 and Persons with Disabilities Act 2008.
“It has been several decades. We PwDs have experienced difficulties entering government buildings that are not PwD-friendly. I hope the allocation will be utilised to provide special paths for visually impaired PwDs, lifts with braille, toilets for PwDs, and suitable ramps for PwDs with a slope not exceeding 1:12,” she said.
She also fully supported other allocations of RM10 million to self reliance training centres as well as industrial training and rehabilitation centres.
“This will assist in encouraging and speeding up the process of development for PwD from the aspect of empowerment with full participation. Budget 2022 also stressed that the rehabilitation programme in the community be expanded in its implementation to other public universities.
“I hope an allocation will also be provided for early intervention programmes as well as to set up the third Genius Kurnia centre in the country. Early intervention will provide treatment, rehabilitation, and guidance for children and parents as soon as their children’s disabilities are detected,” she said.
Ras Adiba also welcomed the assurance offered by the government for all TV stations including private channels to provide sign language interpreters.
“This effort is in line with the PwD Action Plan 2016-2022 to raise PwDs’ accessibility to information and communication. Besides sign language interpreters, the provision of support facilities such as audio description and augmentative alternative communication also needs to be focused on,” she said.
She was also grateful that the allocation for mental health issues had been increased from RM24 million in 2021 to RM70 million next year, and said she was confident that the allocation could help resolve the issue of mental health among Malaysians.
Ras Adiba also hoped that the government could fulfil its state commitment to strengthen the management of rare clinical diseases in Malaysia, such as lysosomal diseases, and consider the setting up of the Rare Diseases Trust Fund.
She also hailed the other initiatives announced, such as the government fully paying for motor vehicle licences for all private vehicles owned by PwDs, allocation for the National Sports Council specifically to improve training programmes for parathletes and implement the Para Sports League. – Bernama, October 30, 2021
