Excerpted from this site: On the matter of ACCESSIBILITY, the Disabled have been denied of the implementation of the law providing access to public facilities and transport due to non-implementation of the provisions of the law on accessibility.
Disabled stay home and out-of-the-streets
There are statements and attitudes of government agencies and officials that the Disabled should stay home and out-of-the-streets. They are seen by some as nuisance and hindrance to the free flow and movements of people and transport. These have added to the distress of the Disabled who are unable to move around because of the absence of facilities and access to public places and transport.
Although the law provides that public places and transport should have facilities and access for the Disabled; public and private authorities prefer to ignore the implementation of the law and shift the blame to the Disabled sectors rather than to the lack of will and resources of the government and business and institutions.
Uphold Rights of the Disabled before God, Constitution
The Ugnayang Pangkalahatan ng Filipinong may Kapansanan (UGNAYAN) affirms the dignity of persons and the value of labor. UGNAYAN recognizes the right of the Disabled-physical, sensory, neurological and mental – – – to a creative, fruitful and meaningful life. Their disabilities are not barriers in their participation in the development of society and implementation of the law.
In the eyes of God and of the Constitution, all persons have equal rights. Persons with Disabilities should receive equal treatment and even priority by those in authority and those tasked to serve those in need.
by Jose Pepito Manansala Cunanan pepz2002@yahoo.com
Tita Becky says…
For a backgrounder, visit this website, and view this video clip archived in GMA7’s “24 Oras” program.
Take note that I am NOT siding with anyone. For the sake of impartiality and fairness, I wanted to find out what triggered off this hostility of the different groups for the disabled [local] sector toward MMDA Chairman Bayani Fernando. In short, I wanted to hear the other side of the coin.
The lady who interviewed Chairman Fernando for that GMA7’s “24 Oras” program got in touch with me by online-chat mode and introduced herself as one of the PWDs (persons with disabilities), too. She proceeded to quote to me some really unsavory things that Chairman Bayani Fernando allegedly said to her that, if true, were definitely “not sweet” to the ears of anyone like myself who sympathizes with people with disabilities. Unfortunately, I did not find anything explicit enough in the video that would warrant this kind of reaction from the PWDs. Granting that her claims were true, it’s possible that much has been edited out from that interview prior to airing it.
While it is now all water-under-the-bridge, so to speak, it IS imperative that even the disabled should have equal access to good and safe roads so they will not be marginalized from making themselves productively useful elements of our society. Most of our disabled citizens are educated, lucid and can continue to function to be just as useful to society as everyone else, where their respective talents apply — and all they’re asking of our MMDA Chairman is to facilitate a program to make the access roads fit, more accessible and less dangerous for disabled pedestrians, too.
So if you, my noble reader, can do something to improve the situation and get the message across to the proper authorities (e.g., MMDA Chairman Bayani Fernando), I am sure your efforts won’t go unappreciated. It’s a yahoo email account you’ll find in there, so am not sure you will get a response; but, just the same, if you want to pursue this case and try to get in touch with Chairman Bayani Fernando himself, you may try this — (I am giving here the url of MMDA’s website so you could surf it some, too.)
Good luck to you! keep me apprised, okay?
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