A local council for all

Excerpts taken from Anthony Thanasayan’s Wheel Power today;

“He was surprised that some able-bodied people had objected to the disabled-friendly project by MBPJ.”

“The blind were rather tickled by the objection of some sighted people who thought that the project should have been done at another place where a popular eye hospital is.”

Check out the complete article Here. Mr Thanasayan was kind enough to even mention my name there.

So anyway, naturally after getting my parents to read the article, we discussed on the issue at length. And we came to conclusions that those who criticised the project are either downright selfish or that none of their family members are disabled, hence, their lack of sense of empathy.

As we have stressed on it for the zillionth times, this said project –a stretch of pavement- is universally designed, which means it can be used by EVERYONE.

Let me spell it out in case these people still didn’t get it. E-V-E-R-Y-O-N-E. And that includes you able-bodied morons who thinks the pavement reconstruction is a waste of money.

Or the taxpayer’s money to be more precise.

Well, fuck that. All of us pay our taxes too. Our dads, our brothers, sisters, wives, mistresses...they’re all taxpayers.

If this selfish-bunch thinks they have their say, then please keep in mind that WE too, in the disabled community have our rights to uphold.

And like it or not here’s something to add up to your misery; we are here to stay because the good people at MBPJ have a few more disabled-friendly projects on the pipeline!

So be afraid...wooooo...

Ok seriously, If it is too hard for you to be with us, than be prepared to come up with better reasons to back up your rationale behind such hostility.

But don’t be too naive to think the disabled will throw in our towels and wheel home crying to our moms (and mistresses).

We’ve waited for such goodies to come our way for ages that we must be out of our mind to back off now. I mean, finally at least one PBT is doing it right.

As Anthony aptly puts it, the disabled community is glad that MBPJ is going on a right direction with its forward-thinking plans for all its residents.

And when he said ALL, you better believe it because for one, a politician he is not.

So long, Good Ol' Captain!

Capt Yusof Ahmad (1947-2009)

I woke up this afternoon only to be greeted by shocking news.

‘Capt Yusof Ahmad, aka The Ancient Mariner, died in his sleep last nite’, as the message went. Immediately I thought it could be a mistake, as only a week ago the good ol’ Capt and his family had lost his beloved mom.

Then another message came in to confirm the sad news.

When I first started I remember ANCIENT MARINER being one of very few blogs highly recommended by everyone. They were spot-on. His blog has been in Let’s Go Land’s link list ever since.

We met regularly later on through events and even bumped into each other a few times around the neighbourhood. He was approachable and had parted a good advice during one of our meetings that I will forever remember it for the rest of my life.

His demise will be a great loss to all of us in the blogging fraternity. The Good Ol' Captain will sorely be missed.

Bon voyage, sir.

Al-Fatihah.

Pondering over pathway

Here’s a quickie.

Earlier today I was somewhere in PJ, wheeling alongside the who’s who in the disabled community to protest against, get this, a group of able-bodied residents who had conveniently objected the local council’s decision to create a more disabled-friendly environment around the township.

For the record, the PBT had reconstructed a stretch of pavement and made it functional for everyone, and that includes not just the disabled but as well the able-bodied themselves.

Tell me if I’m missing out something here but when this project works in every single resident’s favour, I fail to see why the need for some quarters to bark about unnecessarily.

Like it or not, this is what equal rights is all about. When all this while most pavements shut wheelchair-users from accessing on it, the new universally-designed footpath caters to both sets of users.

So what’s the fuss really about? They get to still set their foot on the pavement and equally so are our wheels.

Not that the pavement was designed to make life a living mayhem for the jaywalkers, no.

So until that actually happen I sincerely suggest these people to quit being a selfish bastard and shut their pie-hole for once.

And with that said, I’ll be off again.

Salam mesra.

Shoot and win

I’m sure we’ve all seen one of those warning signboard that says ‘Trespassers Will Be Shot’ noticeably hung on fences of a private property somewhere. Now I wish similar punishment could also be applied to those inconsiderate car owners who have no qualms at abusing disabled parking spots.

The problem has always been to catch these bastards red-handed.

Its never easy I tell you that, and it doesn’t help when you have kayu security guards sleeping on their job.

Last week however my break came and it was one those rare occasions I get to exercise my rights, telling the driver straight in the face.

Here’s the thing. The wheelchair-designated parking spots in this one hypermarket we usually frequent were never vacant. But regardless of whether the driver’s a cripple does not matter because I can’t simply be jumping the gun and started shitting on his car hood.

But as luck would have it that day, one of the parking spots was available only to be beaten to it by a car in front of us. And sure enough, not 1 but 3 able-bodied African dudes coolly alighted the car and walks away as if their Tok Wan owns the supermarket.

Then bang! it happened. I shot ‘em 3 goons with my trusted Tommy gun, hitting them right on the forehead and rejoiced the moment all 3 hit the ground...

...Ok seriously, here's what actually happened.

I got down and yelled out at the driver to remove his junk somewhere.

Oh oh...but get this- he had the cheek to believe he was innocent and had not violated any law even with a huge OKU signboard clearly erected in front of his vehicle.

I mean, duuuuude...if you really are visually impaired then by all means man, the fucking space is all yours.

But no, some people just had to argue even when they realise they don’t stand a chance. Hard as they try, the not-so-good will always triumph over evil.

The driver especially, stood there with two minds after I made it clear he can either go on shopping and risk getting his car clamped or does the right thing by vacating the parking space.

Maybe the thought of the yellow clamping thing made him do the right thing and spared any damages from being done.

Except for bruised ego. I mean, cool homeys don’t get no rap from no crip on wheels, know what I’m sayin’?

Hey, I was merely exercising my rights. What’s equally important is this episode should at least instil some sense of awareness to those involved and witnessed it.

Its about time society jacks their level of awareness a notch up.

And a harsher punishment similar to the trespassing law should effectively do the trick.

Impractical term

KEMAMAN, June 13 — People with a disability should not be referred to as “disabled” but rather “People with Special Ability” as that would best fit their description said Youth and Sports Minister Datuk Ahmad Shabery Cheek.

Thoughtful indeed, but I can help to think it’s purely sugar coating. If he was trying to score points with the disabled community, the minister is definitely shooting blanks.

What’s in a name you tell me. Unless a disabled person on wheelchair possesses a super special ability to overcome insurmountable environmental barriers or get to ride on a wheelchair-unfriendly public bus, a shit by any other name would smell as bad.

That’s the stinking reality. The struggle we have to put up with in order to lead a normal and meaningful life like our able-bodied counterparts IS the reality, and this is the area where the powers-that-be should put some extra effort into.

Everybody’s capable of coining with phrases. And in this case to come up with the most politically correct term usable will not provide us an inch of progress. If there’s a need to change, the word special should be replaced with beneficial instead.

Personally I don’t mind the rudest expression one could think of as long practical changes are made.

So until the government comes up with something beneficial, I’m sticking with the commonly-used term, the disabled person.

Or crips, or cacat...whatever.

Back and banging

Hey I’m back, back with a BANG.

It could have been sooner but when I was supposed to scout around for a new laptop, I splashed a chunk of the allocated budget on a gun instead.

Yes, a pistol, a Beretta 92 to be precise.

It was unnecessary and all the blabla, I know. Got that a lot and the flaks haven’t ceased since the day the gun was purchased.

But I’m going ahead and keep it. Its meant for protection after all. Just like a condom y’know, only safer.

I mean, you just never know. A cold-blooded murderer might just strike while you’re bumping uglies with your spouse.

So protect yourself and your loved one. The best form of safe sex is always...to carry a weapon.

Anyways, after two sans internet weeks, I thought I had loads to catch up on. So I scoured through all the news available online and read as much as I could.

Then I caught this one piece and then again I thought hey, I didn’t miss much after all. Apparently some things never change.

For being a menace to the Malaysian society, the Mat Rempits continue to enjoy special treatment from the authority. This time around a whopping RM4 mil will be spent to cater to this group’s need for speed by building a circuit, courtesy of public fund, via the clever Terengganu state government of course.

And those who excel get this; will get a sponsorship to race in the International circuit. So instead of getting the law to go down hard on them, they get to travel abroad and see the world.

It just doesn’t sound right at all. I mean, while we still hear cases where the OKUs are being oppressed and punished for enjoying little things we have in life, the Mat Rempits on the other hand gets to travel to places that most Malaysian could only dream of setting their foot in.

It makes one wonder why bother wasting their precious second passing the amended, stricter law in the first place if they’re not going to apply it.

Now, if only these road fiends were the reptilian kind, I’d take the law into my own hands and go on a shooting spree.

Gone begging

Komputer rosak. And it is beyond redemption.

After years of faithfully providing good service to its max, my 7 year old laptop has decided to call it quits. And the timing couldn’t get any worse possible. I’m broke, which of course is not a surprise but just as I thought of saving up (ehem, ehem...), this latest series of misfortune most likely means I have to break the bank instead.

Hopefully it wont be too long till I get a new replacement. A day without internet can be a real dread.

life’s been ugly enough since I lost my favourite brown Irish hat. And I wouldn’t want to pile up the misery by becoming a public outcast without an internet access for too long.

In the mean time I’ll be gone temporarily. For those with a big heart who wishes to chip in a coupla thousand bucks (Amal Jariah), you can reach me on my cell phone or landline; both numbers can be retrieved from most owners of the blogs listed on the sidebar. Thank you.

Till whenever dudes/dudettes, chai chien!