Ramps are important

My life is not about ramps, but my work is. DBKL had managed to provide a ramp for me. (See above and also on website header.) Thank you. Now I am not that stressful when trying to find a car parking space at Jalan Raja Laut. Well, its the least DBKL can do after letting off STAR LRT (Bandaraya Station) by not providing a lift for disabled and elderly users. The DBKL security guards were helpful and I managed to park my car alongside the VIPs. But it’s not that accessible when you have pay for a book that you purchase on the 12th floor but you have to get out of the building on to the corridor to the cashier area. What a hassle! So what does this tell you? Many things, but for now, to me, the well-designed ramps are just the beginning. Ramps are the symbol of the “First Steps” to campaign for Inclusive Design in Malaysia. Perhaps ramps should be used as the logo for the Malaysian Disabled People’s Movement (MDPM).

A quote taken from “Mobility For All” booklet says:

Successful advocacy should ideally result in “first steps” toward access, including curb ramps at street corners, ramps to public buildings, low-cost improvements such as larger letters on bus destination signs, or the initiation of door-to-door service to a major destination such as a school or rehabilitation center. These “first steps” can result in good publicity for everyone, including transportation officials. “First steps” can then form the basis for additional improvements as part of the process of creating accessible transit systems.

I have been thinking about ramps for almost ten years now. Ramps are the last link to our destination often found lacking from the car park to the building or the five foot way (boardwalk or external public space) to inside the shop.

When campaigning for Inclusive Public Transportation, where do we focus on more? The buses and trains or the street environment, including ramped curbs? Of course, we advocate for all, but as the Ministry of Transport and the Ministry of Entrepreneur and Cooperative Development wait for the Ministry of Housing and Local Government to upgrade the pavement and curbs, the latter would also be waiting for the other two to upgrade their vehicles… we just have to keep on advocating…

The most tried and tested strategy is to bring in the issue that when we include the needs of disabled and elderly people, we also include all.

Mobility for all means advantages for all. Most of the improvements which help disabled persons also help everyone else. If disabled persons can get to a bus stop and easily get on a bus, that usually means that other passengers also have an easier time using public transportation.