For 42 days, my mobility was curtailed and I experienced living as a mildly disabled person. This experience of having to use a wheelchair outside my home gave me an inkling of how difficult and limiting it is for people with disabilities to move around in public.
Here’s a quick recap for readers who missed my earlier columns on how I became mobility impaired.
On May 28, I underwent surgery to repair a meniscus root tear caused by ageing and wear and tear. After the operation, I had to wear the brace to protect the knee and I could not put any weight on my leg for six weeks.
At home, I could still hobble on my right leg with the help of a walking frame. That was slow and exhausting, so I needed a wheelchair when I went out.
I consider myself lucky that I had little pain or swelling post-surgery, unlike many other patients who had the same procedure.
The difficult part was being disciplined in doing the exercises several times a day to strengthen the necessary leg muscles that would aid and protect my knee – actually both knees – in the long term.
I didn’t mind staying home, but the only downside was I could no longer do many things on my own. I could manage going to the toilet – something I had been very worried about before the operation – but I needed help showering, fetching and carrying stuff, and serving my meals.
That was because I needed both arms to steady myself on the walking frame, and standing on my good leg for a lengthy duration was tiring. I resorted to hanging a small bag around my neck to carry my phone and glasses.
I only dared to venture out after I could adjust the brace to allow my knee to bend 90 degrees. Then I could at least put both feet on the footplate of the wheelchair.
But I had to choose carefully where I wanted to go. As I had years of experience pushing my parents in their wheelchairs, I knew the safest bet were the malls, especially the newer ones, because of their long, smooth corridors and lifts. Most importantly, there were decent and clean toilets for the disabled.
I also timed my outings to avoid going when the malls were crowded. That’s because people aren’t very accommodating when it comes to getting into lifts.
You are also competing with other wheelchair users and people with laden supermarket trolleys and/or baby strollers.
It’s not to say people aren’t considerate when they see a person in a wheelchair. Drivers in car parks were patient when they saw me being helped in and out of my wheelchair.
On a trip to the supermarket, I was briefly separated from my daughter and when I tried to reach for something on a higher shelf, a woman rushed over to help me.
While the malls were safe to go to, it’s not so in most other places. For my birthday, my children checked with the restaurant on whether it was wheelchair accessible and were told yes. But when we got there, the row of shops where it was located had a curb and steps that were definitely barriers.
I was only able to get to and into the restaurant because I could still stand, and hop with the help of my son.
This is the reality.
Back in 2017, French blogger Aurelie Loaec described her experience of visiting Kuala Lumpur as a tourist with mobility issues on her site, Iwheeltravel.com. Before arriving, she had heard that Malaysia was a challenging country for wheelchair travellers, and she found it to be true.
She had a good start at Kuala Lumpur International Airport where she was ably assisted from the plane through to the immigration counters, luggage collection and the entrance. But once in the city, she found it a bit of a nightmare.
Many sidewalks had no curb-cuts (gentle ramps from the end of a sidewalk that lead to the surface of an adjoining street), and if there were, they were often too steep or damaged.
The sidewalks could also be blocked by irresponsibly parked motorcycles, products placed by shops and even streetlights. The sewer grilles on pavements were another obstacle. A recurring problem she faced was closed public toilets for the disabled.
The situation has barely improved, as an audit on the accessibility of public premises in the country conducted by the Faculty of Architecture and Environmental Design, Islamic University International, showed.
The findings, released by the Women, Family and Community Development Ministry in 2023, found almost three quarters of public premises audited, such as commercial, institutional, religious, recreational parks, outdoor facilities, transport and health facilities, were rated three stars or below, with several requirements not up to the Malaysian standard (MS1184).
These shortcomings included a lack of signage and directions for disabled people to find facilities such as toilets and parking; damaged footpaths; wheelchair ramps that were too steep, uneven or even non-existent; and toilets that did not meet with the specifications.
Indeed, there are attempts to make public spaces more disabled-friendly, like in the Taman Megah commercial centre in Petaling Jaya.
I am very familiar with it as it is in my old neighbourhood. A few years ago, ramps were added to the shop walkways. But I doubt wheelchair users can use them safely or with confidence because, again, the curb cuts are almost non-existent.
Here is a classic case of good intention failed by poor implementation.
We have the Persons with Disabilities Act 2008 (PWD Act) aimed at providing equal access to public facilities, amenities and services for people with disabilities.
As I said, many new public places like malls do provide such access, but older buildings and our streets and sidewalks remain largely inaccessible and even dangerous.
The disabled among us may make up only a small percentage of the population; 11.1% of adults, according to a 2019 National Health and Morbidity Survey.
So it’s easy for the able-bodied to dismiss or overlook their needs. This is especially so when this segment of society is quite invisible, as many are forced to stay home because of accessibility issues.
But anyone can become disabled, even temporarily, as I am now. Safe, well-designed access and facilities are good for all, be it for the visually impaired, wheelchair users, parents with baby strollers and, let’s not forget, for an ageing society as ours is.
The views expressed here are the writer’s own.
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