Adopt zero reject policy for PwD - Senator Ras Adiba

Chairman of the Malaysian National News Agency (Bernama) Senator Ras Adiba Radzi said in order to change the perception and social stigma towards the PwD, children should be educated from an early age to support the group and not look down on them.

"The PwD should be given equal opportunities to work and be independent as well as enjoy PwD-friendly infrastructure so that their lives are more pleasant," she said during the Al-Quran Discourse programme entitled ‘Rights of the Disabled: Are We Fair?’, streamed online on Sinar Harian Facebook page yesterday.

Ras Adiba also shared the predicament she faced for six years in her attempt to secure employment after she became a person with disability in 2002. However, the positive energy and support she received from the PwD community enabled her to bring their voice to Dewan Negara today.

She said it was unbecoming for people to hold a negative perception and stigma towards the PwD because anyone could become disabled.

As the number of disabled in the country is expected to increase following a surge in the number of senior citizens by 2030, more PwD-friendly facilities and infrastructure should be provided, she said.

Meanwhile, a lecturer at the Teacher Education Institute, Islamic Studies Campus in Bangi, Dr Mohd Huzairi Husain, said the shortcomings of the disabled should be seen as a strength.

He said society needed to increase awareness on the rights of the PwD to ensure that they would not be marginalised and that the perception and labelling of the PwD were only in the minds.