Hi. I am Nazy from Malaysia.
My involvement on advocacy and research on things to do with Accessibility and Inclusive Design, Policies and Case Studies started in 1998, when I volunteered for a UNESCAP training course in Penang.
To cut the story short, I am trying to complete a doctoral thesis that has something to do on “Accessibility and Inclusive Design” which means that the road that I took in 1998 has somehow led me to this far and this way when it came to ‘fighting’ for rights of disabled people in Malaysia.
At the moment I am struggling to finish my thesis due to my full-time job not allowing me to do so, hence there is very little of advocacy work. But I will do my best to incorporate that in my full-time job, in this case having some grants to work on this issue really helps.
February 17th, 2009 at 3:10 pm
Dear Nazy,
I came upon your blog and am glad to see another activist for universal access! Im an industry consultant and the company I founded in 1999 is the oldest company in Malaysia focussing on lifts and other access solutions for elderly and disabled.
I have met most of the parties you mention in your blogs and know how difficult it is to get everybody aligned and proactive, especially the authorities…
Let me know if you would like to correspond further. Thanks and best regards,
Richard Arnold
April 16th, 2009 at 10:39 am
Nazy,
As you may or may not know, MS1184 is written/ compiled by Sirim in which case, does not necessary make it to be a law or regulation. Just a standard. However, when bodies such as DBKL or MPPJ makes a reference to it in the state law, then MS1184 needs to be complied with.
However, there’s a drawback in complying with MS1184 of which in this case, I use the lift as an example. Lifts in Malaysia are generally governed by JKKP and must comply with the Factories and Machinery Act. One of the requriements is that a lift of such capacity must have a certain floor area.
In MS1184, it mentions that a lift (for handicap use) must have a car size of 1800Wx1800D to allow a wheelchair to turn 360degrees around. Such a size and resulting floor area translates into a lift with capacity of 21persons.
How many places out there do you think has the space or the money to install such a large lift? It would have been more appropriate for Sirirm to have mentioned a minimum size lift (maybe 6 or 8 persons) whereby a wheelchair could still enter but in order to get out, the wheelchair user would need to reverse out (with the help of a mirror located on the rear lift wall).