OKU, NGOs demand urgent action to ensure safe, accessible public spaces after blind woman injured

The Star

Outrages by yet another case of negligence towards the disabled community, over 50 people with disabilities and seven non-governmental organisations staged a protest outside Kuala Lumpur City Hall headquarters on Wed (March 12), demanding urgent action to protect their right to safe and accessible public spaces.   Read more at https://tinyurl.com/5xw9uayb  WATCH MORE: https://thestartv.com/c/news SUBSCRIBE: https://cutt.ly/TheStar LIKE: https://fb.com/TheStarOnline

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00:00Outraged by yet another case of negligence towards the disabled community, over 50 people

00:11with disabilities, supported by seven non-governmental organizations, gathered outside Kuala Lumpur

00:18City Hall headquarters on Wednesday to protest the ongoing negligence of accessibility rights.

00:25The demonstration demanded immediate action to ensure safe and accessible public spaces.

00:31The protest was triggered by a recent incident involving 40-year-old Anbarasi Nyanasekaran,

00:36a visually impaired woman who broke her leg after tripping over a trolley left on a pedestrian

00:42walkway in Brickfields.

00:44The trolley had been placed there by a shop for loading goods.

00:47The injury has left Anbarasi wheelchair-bound and unable to work.

00:51She was accompanied by her husband, who is also visually impaired, when the accident

00:56occurred.

00:57This incident has intensified frustration among the disabled community, who argued that

01:02accessibility features meant to help them, particularly tactile blocks, have become hazardous

01:09due to a lack of enforcement.

01:12Protesters presented a memorandum to the City Hall, calling for strict action against businesses

01:16and individuals who illegally obstruct walkways.

01:21In the absence of Mayor Datuk Seri Maimunah Mohamad Sharif, who was overseas, the memorandum

01:26was received by Nohas Linda Nordin, Director of DBKL's Corporate Communications Department.

01:33Hemavati Munyandi, a wheelchair user at the protest, expressed her dismay and questioned

01:38when will the authorities take the plight of the disabled community seriously.

01:42I heard about what happened to Anbarasi.

01:46It's not fair.

01:47Because the DBKL should open their eyes and look at what happened.

01:51What means for us?

01:52Let us to use law.

01:54Because nobody want to ask for our rights.

01:58Sixty-five-year-old quadriplegic president of Independent Living and Training Centre,

02:03Malaysia, G Francis Siva, emphasised that this was not an isolated incident, but a widespread

02:10problem.

02:11He adds everywhere they go, they face obstacles, tactile blocks blocked by parked cars, stalls

02:17encroaching on walkways, and illegal structures forcing them onto the road, putting their

02:23lives at risk.

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