‘You cannot legislate attitude’
By : Heidi Foo
source
PETALING JAYA: Bathmavathi Krishnan was a University of Malaya undergraduate in the bloom of life when she was mowed down on campus by a bus chartered by the university and left a paraplegic.
It was 1975 and the 21-year-old was paralysed from the waist down. Her world, as she knew it then, came crashing down. In building life anew, Bathmavathi determined that although she was broken in body, she was whole in spirit.
In the 33 years since her life-changing ordeal, Bathmavathi, now 54, has built up a career resume the envy of many of her able-bodied contemporaries. It is more than just a personal triumph. Bathmavathi has shown that the disabled can be productive and valuable members of the workforce — if given the chance.
Bathmavathi is a retired librarian. She is also a secretary of the Malaysian Confederation of the Disabled.
Her hard won success is inspiring, but she may well be an exception in a society that presents the disabled with numerous workplace barriers, the most substantial being negative attitudes.
“You can have all the legislation in the world for companies to employ people with disabilities, but you cannot legislate attitude,” said Bathmavathi in response to the government’s plan to employ 10,200 disabled persons in the civil service.
She said that for the plan to succeed, it should first address outstanding issues like workplace wheelchair accessibility and public transportation for disabled employees. And this will happen only if public prejudices against people like her are gone.
“The main barrier (to gainful employment) is people’s attitudes. They look at us simply as people in need of help or charity. People need to start recognising us as part of the human capital. We pay taxes and want to be able to lead a normal life too.”
Bathmavathi, who now does translation and editing work, partly credits her career success to her highly understanding and accommodating former employer.
“The management of the library where I worked made special renovations for people with disabilities. They knocked down two adjoining toilets to make it disabled friendly, and even installed a stair lift so that I could reach the highest level. “It was also a wonderful coincidence that the library had a lift large enough to accommodate my wheelchair,” she said, adding that she was highly moved by her employer’s sensitivity to her needs.
Bathmavathi said that besides solving accessability and mobility issues, her former workplace conducted fire drills catering to both normal and disabled staff. It is this enlightened attitude towards employees with disabilities that she hopes can be cultivated in workplaces.
“(For the move to employ disabled persons), everyone needs to be prepared to move in tandem. By this I mean getting the Education Ministry to start building schools and buses that are disabled-friendly.” It is only then that the more concrete problems such as workplace accessibility could be addressed, she said.
Bathmavathi cited the by-law requiring only commercial buildings exceeding 30 metres in height to have elevators as something in need of serious review. “The law is archaic not only for the disabled, but normal people too. Even they will face difficulty in moving furniture and housing appliances without elevators. “People should also understand that at some point, the able-bodied may also need such facilities when they grow old and need crutches or wheelchairs.” she added.
She also suggested that the Human Resources Ministry should set up a parallel job search system for the civil and private sectors.