ALOR STAR: As a Polio survivor, Elizabeth Ang, 54, has been advised by her doctor to move around on a wheelchair.
However, she has no other option but to defy the advice due to poor accessibility and disabled-friendly facilities in Kedah.
She now has no choice but to depend on a Knee-Ankle-Foot Orthosis (Kafo) assistive device to move around.
"My doctor advised me that as someone with post-Polio conditions, I should use a wheelchair instead of walking using an assistive device.
"Unfortunately, when I use the wheelchair, my movement is extremely limited due to the lack of disabled-friendly facilities out there.
"I am unable to visit wet markets, grocery stores, hospitals, clinics, shops, restaurants, cafés, books stores and ATMs, when I'm in my wheelchair.
"I have to bear the back and knee pains to move around using the Kafo device," she told the New Straits Times in a subdued tone.
Ang has no other option but to endure all the pain and agony, as she is also caring for her elderly parents.
She said the situation had left many disabled persons in this city disconnected to the outside world.
She said: "Many of my disabled friends, who don't own cars, are disconnected to public places and facilities. Our environment deprives the disabled and their dependents from a full and equitable life.
"The government needs to step up and do something about this, disabled people deserve quality living like everyone else."
Abdul Malik Said, 40, from Pendang, who left his job after losing his ability to walk over a decade ago, shares Ang's predicaments.
"The whole district of Pendang is not disabled-friendly at all and public transportation here is very poor as well.
"This severely limits accessibility for disabled people like me," said the former soldier who is now confined to a wheelchair after suffering serious injuries in a motorcycle accident in 2006.
Malik, who is earning a living as a deejay for event and wedding said the government should looked into the plight of disabled persons in the state, as well as nationwide.
"It is unfair that the needs for a disabled-friendly facilities are not prioritised.
"We are not asking for special privileges. We are simply asking for better access to all facilities and infrastructures so that we could carry on with life without being a burden to others," he said.
Meanwhile, the Malaysian Wheelchair Users Association has urged the Kedah government to consider appointing persons with disabilities into its local councils.
Its president Zamri Mansor said that having representation of disabled persons within the local councils would be a significant step in improving the living conditions of the disabled community in the state.
"We are urging the state government to consider disabled persons as they have a better understanding of the needs of disabled community.
"We have plenty of individuals from the disabled community who are more than qualified for such positions," he said.
In 2011, the then Women, Family and Community Development minister Tan Sri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil had urged local authorities nationwide to appoint disabled dommunity representatives in their respective planning and development committee.
The idea was mooted to ensure that each local council improved accessibility of disabled groups to public buildings and facilities.
Zamri said it was disheartening that the call was not taken seriously by the state government.
"We are already in 2023 but we have yet to see the light that the proposal will be implemented in the local councils, most cities in the country are yet to become disabled-friendly," he said.
In response, state Health and Local Government Committee chairman Datuk Dr Mohd Hayati Othman had pledged that future infrastructures and facilities in the state would be taking into account the needs of the disabled group.
"We acknowledge that the older infrastructures in the state did not take into account the needs of disabled people when they were developed decades ago.
"However, we will ensure that the existing disabled-friendly facilities are properly maintained and improved.
"We are aware of the predicaments faced by the disabled persons and we will ensure they will be given priority in future infrastructure development," Dr Hayati said briefly when contacted.
Commenting on the issue, Datuk Mohd Yusri Md Daud, the Alor Star City Council mayor confirmed that the city council had received the complaints from the Malaysian Wheelchair Users Association.
He pledged to take immediate action to improve the city's infrastructure for disabled persons.
"We have received complaint letters regarding the infrastructure being inaccessible for the disabled and we will investigate which areas within the city that require the necessary adjustments.
"Once we have identified those areas, we will act accordingly based on priorities," he said in response to grouses raised by the disabled group.
On the association's call for a disabled-person representative to be appointed as a councillor in the City Council, Yusri said the matter would have to be referred to the state government since the councillors in local government were appointed by the state.