By Sheeda Fathil
SHAH ALAM, Dec 3 — The state government will establish Yayasan Insan Istimewa Selangor (YaNIS) next year, to empower disabled persons (OKU) in the state at every level.
State executive councillor for women and family development Dr Siti Mariah Mahmud said the foundation aims to expand initiatives, programmes and activities for all OKUs, with a RM4 million allocation.
“Prior to this, most initiatives were only limited to OKUs aged 18 and below, but with YaNIS we are expanding it to all age groups.
“The state government is not merely satisfied with focusing on welfare like providing financial assistance on a one-off basis. Rather, we are also committed to emphasising more seriously the empowerment of the disabled,” she said.
Dr Siti Mariah was speaking at the Selangor-level Disabled Persons’ Day, officiated by His Highness the Raja Muda of Selangor Tengku Amir Shah, at the MBSA Convention Centre earlier today.
She added the state government will also increase the value of Bantuan Khas Anak Istimewa Selangor by offering additional benefits to families with disabled children.
“The aid is in terms of medical treatment at specialist hospitals, to help parents with disabled children obtain emergency treatment at private facilities,” Dr Siti Mariah said.
is in the form of medical treatment at specialist hospitals that will help parents with disabled children to get emergency treatment at private facilities,” she said.
At the celebration, Selangor Welfare Department director Zaitol Salleh said there are presently 110,264 OKUs in the state, who account for approximately 1.59 per cent of the 6.9 million residents in Selangor.
“Community awareness still needs to be increased, especially when it comes to the registration of the disabled, and the privileges these individuals can enjoy if they are registered with the department.
“The privileges include an exemption on international travel document fees, public transportation discounts, fee exemptions from government health services, and department assistance,” she said.
At the event, Tengku Amir spent over an hour visiting the art exhibitions by OKUs, which were displayed at the Selangor International Book Fair 2022.
Themed ‘Transformasi Ke Arah Pembangunan Inklusif OKU’, this year’s Disabled Persons’ Day in Selangor was realised through the cooperation between NGO Selangor Youth Community, Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) Shah Alam’s OKU Services Unit, and UiTM Puncak Alam.
Various interesting activities were held throughout the celebration, including i-sense, a platform for the community and talented disabled students to exhibit and sell their artworks.
Another is i-connect, an activity which provides visitors with the opportunity to participate in sign language classes including the alphabet, two-way interaction and daily life routines, by instructors from the Malaysian Deaf Association.
The event also featured the forum ‘Towards Fostering Independent OKUs’, and a special performance by the group 6ixth Sense.
