IT’S ALL IN THE MIND!!

This is one long overdue post, but it’s better late than never, haha… the objective is to state it lout and clear!!

If the nation is rising, shouldn't we the citizens rise along with her? All the stuff we hear about how to better improve our country and the infrastructure… No doubt it is a good thing, but I strongly believe that however advanced the nation may be, we will still be way behind if we refuse to broaden our mentality and the way we perceive things!! Sometimes we just gotta let go of the negative mind set and begin to take on the new outlook… if we, the disabled community, can and have moved on, I don’t see why all you people out there can’t give us the respect and stop thinking of us as the “weird” group!! I am not so much speaking for myself, but on behalf of all other disabled on this planet as well…

We might be less capable physically, but other than that what on earth is so unusual about a bunch of friends on a wheelchair going out to have fun and release stress? We have a life too, therefore stress is an inevitable subject… I think as far as a Person With Disability (PWD) is concerned, it is more of the emotional stress that we have to face, so therefore we also need an outlet before we “crack up” as a result of bottled-up emotions and feelings, haha… I have come to a stage where I really don’t care what you wanna think of me anymore… But I just don’t understand what is so nice in staring at us (or do you people out there just stare for the fun of staring??) One of my friends suggested that maybe all you guilty people out there are PAID to stare at us, haha… gosh, grow up, people!! Even a small kid can be/do 10 times better than any of you so-called matured people out there in terms of courtesy and as far as friendliness is concerned *tsk tsk tsk* talk about being an example for the younger generation…

It is really annoying sometimes when all you do the minute you come across a person in a wheelchair (or anyone at all with a disability for that matter) is STARE at us like no body’s business!! What is worse is that you not only stare, you hold your gaze (without a smile at all, mind u!!) with a “one-kind” look in it like as if we’re some disease-spreading creature that will spread the worst of diseases to you… it’s like as if you have never seen a disabled out in the public before… call urself a developing nation?? This is not to offend anyone on purpose, rather just to wake all you people up!! However if you do feel offended with this entry that somehow seems to shoot straight at you, then please check urself and ponder on what might have triggered me to say these things… Siapa makan cili, dia rasa pedas!! In addition to that, I would also say that Malaysia is still very left out in terms of facilities *sigh* despite only a handful of places which have progressed in the facilities as far as a PWD is concerned, it is still not as progressive as certain overseas countries like australia and japan to name a few… we have yet to see certain public places in malaysia improve for the better!!

I was having a chat with kenji (my boss at JICA) on this issue about courtesy last Wednesday and he was being upfront with me when he said that we, as Malaysians, still have A LOT to learn… I liked his straight forward attitude… he gave an example of what happened the day before when he went out for lunch with his other assistant, Siti (he has another assistant who goes in to work every alternate days apart from Wednesdays, which is my working day)… as they were waiting to enter the lift at one of the malls to go for lunch, he saw that people just couldn’t be bothered to have some courtesy to let them have their turn first, instead were fighting to enter the lift and leave no space for both of them… the mentality is such that “I must be first. Who cares about others?” and on the hand we are talking about building a more caring society, masyarakat penyayang and watever…

Come on, don’t just talk without getting anything done about it!! Actions speaks louder than words, and it is all in the mind… whether or not we wanna act it out or just mere talk and leave it at that… And for goodness’ sake, change our mind set, thank you!!