We are no pushover

I have been quite busy nowadays but there is an issue that came up in Peter Tan's blog that I need to mention here. Peter actually wrote a post where he was appalled that a blogger had been insensitive to disabled people's issues and informed the blogger's sponsors of what she had done wrong, ie criticising and putting down disabled people's rights (which you can read via Peter's blog). So a lot of people left comments criticising Peter's action, which I think is not right as people think that disabled people such as Peter is manipulating 'our disability' to get at other people. The issue is not that simple. Hence I had placed my comment which I am pasting here:

Peter Tan was correct to fight back. I am backing what Peter did. I would have done the same. The reason being, people like Xiaxue thinks that she can say what she likes, which can undermine all the efforts of what people were trying to do, which is to fight for the Rights of Disabled People.

Yes, it did not happened overnight. Disabled people along with able-bodied people had been working alongside each other to produce guidelines on how to make the built environment more accessible. Usually it is done outside their working hours, where they worked voluntarily and sacrificing precious time away from family.

In Singapore where Xiaxue comes from, I know personally the individuals from the Singapore Handicapped Association who worked with the Singapore Government, such as the HDB, and the Public Works Department during the evening and weekends, sacrificing their spare time and their family time so as to get the guidelines for disabled toilets and other facilities on board for disabled people to use. They spent for years scouting the Orchard Road area, shopping complexes, government buildings etc making access surveys and giving free consultations to the officers in Government.

What happens in Singapore is made an example in Malaysia and other Asian and Pacific countries when in the 90s, UNESCAP adopted the Singapore guidelines and trained people from all over Asia to fight for the rights of disabled people. Although this is about Accessibility, it touches and effect many other issues relating to disability.

Many of us in this forum may not know that there are kids out there who are disabled that did not get further in life because the environment is disabling, for example, I know of people who stopped schooling just because after 12 years old their parents cannot carry them up the flight of stairs anymore, thus affecting their life’s chances. So many issues, that need to be at the forefront but we can only managed to highlight about Accessibility, which when looking at how developed countries had done it, were the first issues to be highlighted. We in Asia have still a very long way to go.

People need to understand that eventually they will all be handicapped in a way, as they grow older, and their hips and knees start to become arthritic and other ailments come. How to enjoy life when we are older? We see more and more elderly people going out around Orchard Road and other Singapore city spots. There are accessible toilets, so that wheelchairs can fit, lifts, brailled and tactile surfaces, places to sit, and so on, to make life a bit more bearable and enjoyable. For people who has spinal injuries, the time taken to wait for a disabled toilet, may result in him/her getting urinary tract infection, and making a setback to his/her condition, hence the need for people to be sensitive to not use disabled toilets.

If things are not accessible and disabled toilets are not available, how do people get to do what others can easily do?

Why criticise and deny disabled people their rights to living as you do?

So Brand Names like Xiaxue or whatever it may be (such as any other famous bloggers or personalities) or companies or whatever business out there, please be ready when you start critising and putting down disabled people and their rights. We will fight back. We are no pushovers! We know our rights and that is our privilege as human beings!