PetPositive is glad and greatly encouraged by the interest taken by the women, family and community development ministry to consider the special needs of the handicapped community in view of the spiraling cost of living in the country.
We were delighted to be invited by its minister Dr Ng Yen Yen to a meeting last Monday together with the Welfare Department for this purpose.
In our meeting, we proposed to the ninister that a minimum monthly aid of RM500 a month be given to all disabled Malaysians – and their family care-givers – to help deflect the effects of the recent petrol price hike.
The financial aid should be given in addition to any other current monetary help that is being received by Malaysians with disabilities from the ministry
This proposal was unanimously supported by nearly a dozen other disabled NGOs and disabled- related organisations present at the meeting.
Totally scrapping road toll charges and excise duties for cars used by the handicapped and the introduction of minimal token subscriptions for communication services such as for telephone, mobile and Internet services in order to help improve the quality of lives of the disabled were among the other measures that were put forward to the minister.
Increasing the benefits of the disabled identification card such as qualifying for free parking was also suggested as discounted prices would not only help the handicapped community to be better able to cope with inflation but also be an incentive for more Malaysians with disabilities to register themselves with the government.
We expressed our deep concern that many other handicapped persons have yet to be given disabled ID cards such as persons with Parkinson’s disease and people with mental illnesses because the authorities were having problems recognising them as handicapped persons.
We also reminded the minister about the need to cut down unnecessary red tape when all of the abovementioned such services are made available.
The meeting ended on a positive note leaving us hopeful that the handicapped community should have some good news coming our way soon.
The writer is president, Malaysian Animal-Assisted Therapy for the Disabled and Elderly Association (PetPositive).
