Services provided by the Education Department, Women, Family and Community Development and NGOs

Malaysia has ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) in 2010, with a reservation of Article 15 (prohibition of torture and abuse) and Article 18 (right to free movement and nationality).

In doing so, Malaysia's government has committed itself to design new laws, formulating new policies taking appropriate measures to comply with international law and resolve preliminary issues surrounding the ratification of the treaty into the domestic legal framework (Md Tah & Mokhtar, 2017) in order to combat disability-related stereotypes, prejudices and harm.

For example, The Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development (MWFCD) is responsible for its responsibilities and update various approaches and initiatives to meet the goal of the Malaysian Disability Action Plan 2016-2020 in accordance with government policies on disability persons (PwDs) and the 11th Malaysian Plan (RMK11) (Abdul Rahim et al., 2017).

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Q1, Why is it important to engage in policy formulation as well as knowing what existing policies are?

Importance of engaging in policy formulation & knowing existing policies

It is important for all to engage in policy formulation as well as knowing what policies are existing to make sure disabled children have equal chances of surviving, prospering and achieving their full potential. This is important since children with disabilities are often valued less than their peers, lack unfair access to basic services. Such isolation practices occur not because the child has a handicap but because of the lack understanding of society thus cause negative perceptions and prejudice. The lack of respect for and protection of the rights of disabled children lead to a lack of investment in their potential.

In result, most of them growing up by depending on their family instead of effective contributors to Malaysian society's political, cultural, social and scientific development. By knowing those policies, society could eliminate attitudinal and physical barriers to inclusion and change the perceptions about the potential of children with disabilities to contribute to society.

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Q2, Why is teamwork crucial and what is needed to help foster it?

In order to promote the issue and create a friendly environment for children with disabilities, teamwork from certain authorities with the government are important. The specialized such as doctors, nurses, psychologist, therapist, counsellors, teachers, special educationalists, social worker as well as NGOs could share their knowledge of the society. As we know, individual possess diverse talent, weakness, strengths, thus teamwork from different departments are crucial in order to achieve the goals by increasing the awareness about disability in society.

For example, social worker could help one’s to live their life as independently as possible and support them in reaching their potential, through both practical and emotional support as well as cooperate with government or non-government organization to organize an awareness campaign to increase awareness of society; Therapist and doctors could give early intervention to help the development of children with disability. Early support and diagnosis from healthcare professionals provide expert therapy and programs to leverage the talents and skills of children. Moreover, special educationalists and teachers could design different ways of learning to children with disability.

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Q3, What role can the different professions and agencies play to help promote user-friendly care in the community?

Promote user-friendly care

In order to increase awareness, non-government, NGOs and government agencies should cooperate with each other to transfer the important knowledge to society and create a friendly environment for children with disability. For example, Community Based Rehabilitation (CBR) promoted by WHO as a social model, was launched in Malaysia by JKM as a gateway to various services for people who have disabilities. Moreover, there are also many professionals from JKM work as a social worker at the Ministry of Health and NGOs.

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References

Abdul Rahim, A., Samad, A., Amirah, N., Said, I., Seman, W., & Amin, W. (2017). Malaysian Plan of Action for People with Disabilities 2016-2022: Way Forward. UIA Seoul World Architects Congress, Seoul, Korea.

Md Tah, I. H., & Mokhtar, K. A. (2017). MALAYSIA’S RATIFICATION OF THE UN CONVENTION ON THE RIGHTS OF PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES (UN CRPD). International Journal of Business Economics and Law, 11, 83.