40. RM2 Charge for Disabled Toilet

Last night, January 22, 2012 I had dinner at one of the diners on the ground floor of Suria KLCC. At 8.3opm after I had dinner and wheeling to the car park, I felt the urge to go to the toilet and the nearest toilet was the premier toilet on the ground floor. 


When I wanted to use the toilet for  the disabled, the toilet was locked and when I asked the attendant behind the counter, she asked RM2 for me to use the toilet  for disabled people and for her to open the toilet.

And she told me if I did not want to pay RM2, I could always use toilet for the disabled on other floors for free of charge. The thing is, moving around on a wheelchair, it's not easy for me to go to other floors because I cant use the escalator and both lifts at the centre court are always packed with people and the long queu ( if you can call gather in front of the door lift a queu), just to enter the lift. 


The other lifts are located on the other side on the building thus by the time I want to use toilet for the disabled on other floors, I would have pee-d first in my pants just to get to the toilet.


I just renewed my ID Mykad and the NRD did not charge me RM10 fees, I even renewed my international passport for free and why do I need to pay RM2 to use the toilet for disabled person? Is there any special treatment with the RM2 fee? Will someone wash/wipe my ass with that fee? I reckon not.


This kind of absurdity is one of the causes that hinder many people with disability to go out to public spaces.

39. Disabled Parking Bays Hijacked at Pavilion KL

Yesterday,  my friend and I went to The Pavilion Kuala Lumpur to have lunch and to do some shopping. When we arrived at the parking, we were shocked that all the disabled parking bays allocated for the disabled person were hijacked by cars without the Disabled person card or sticker.

Then when we wanted to enter the Pavilion, the lowered curb for wheelchair was blocked by abled bodied car who selfishly parked their car right in front of the entrance  with no regard for the disabled people.

We took some photos and went to see some staff of the Pavilion management who were gathered at a point near the parking and I asked told them about my condition and even showed them my Disabled card. I asked them about what the action would be taken to those cars belong to the able-bodied motorists but to my horror they seemed uninterested and dismissive to my complaints. One of them told me they did not know what to do and asked me to find another disabled parking bays. 

Parking bays reserved for the disabled are being taken up by able-bodied motorists 

People who are not disabled should not be parking in disabled spaced. I think it's a disgrace that able bodied people, who frankly are just lazy, would use something specifically designed for those who need it more!

It is illegal for non-disabled people to park in disabled bays, unless of course a passenger in the car has disabilities and disability sticker or card issued by the Social Welfare Department Only people with disabilities allowed to park in disabled bays. Anyone else is breaking the law by parking there and can be fined and/or have their car towed. 

NO ACTION taken by The Pavilion Kuala Lumpur letting the able-bodied motorists keep abusing the disabled parking bays at Pavilion. This is sad that Pavilion is a world class shopping mall but poor in maintaining its standard pertaining basic rules and regulations.

Pavilion Kuala Lumpur should take action against able-bodied motorists. The car belong to non disabled people who parked at the disabled parking bays should be clamped and charged a large fee then they will think twice the next time before they steal someones disabled parking space.

Motorists could also be shamed by having the model and number plate of their car read out over the store’s tannoy system. 

As a premiere shopping mall in Asia, Pavilion Kuala Lumpur should be concern about disabled parking spaces and penalise those able-bodied drivers that incorrectly park in spaces allocated for the disabled.

It is no longer about meeting the building's minimum requirement standard but  today it is about good practise by the building's management. Pavilion Kuala Lumpur may have better facility for the disabled compared to other shopping mall but if they do not have standard management practice, it tainted their image. People have different needs and abilities, If people like me have no access to their building, we are locked out from the society.

I suggest the penalties need to be severe because the kind of person who would park in a disabled bay would laugh off a smaller fine.

Some good example of concern building management towards the needy are The Mines Shopping Centre and The Gardens Mid Valley. The security chained the lot and only to be open by request. Just give a short phone call to the security office, they'll come, release the chain, let us park our car and then they secure back the lot to ensure no one else take opportunity to park at the OKU lot.

In Alamanda Putrajaya, the parking security are very strict, ensuring shoppers never to abuse the OKU parking space. Without OKU car sticker or OKU JKM card on dashboard, it is a definite RM50 fine to be paid for being either ignorant or stupid."

38. Efficient NRD

When I was asked by the bank to renew my identity card due to malfunction of the chip on the card, I thought I would faced with another bureaucracy stupidity. I thought wrong,  This time dealing with the National Registration Department (NRD) was efficient.

The moment I arrived at the building, there was ramp to the lobby, easy access to the lift to the second  floor and by time I reached the counter, I didn't have to take any number to queu. I was ushered to a special counter for   the disabled.

There was no form to fill and the officer was friendly and efficient. Within five minutes everything was done and she passed me a receipt and asked me to come the next day to pick up my new identity card.

The next day, was the same, I  didn't have to take number. I just had to go to the special counter for the disabled and produced the receipt. Within 5 minutes, I received by new identity card. I guess being disabled person, has its perks.

37. Know My Limitations

We parked the car at novotel and walked to the aquaria to reach the tunel adjacent to suria klcc. As we went down the stairs. There were people sitting near the stairs, at the cafe and all eyes were set on me while I was going down the stairs with crutches. I was uneasy when people were staring at me.
Noticed my uneasiness Raizan told me that he was proud to walk with me because I waa a celebrity now because I was on TV days before and those people who were staring probably had seen me on TV. Well I was aware enough to recognise that he was trying to uplift my spirit. I just smiled at him.

The walk from Novotel to KLCC park was a good walk but I had to walk slowly and stop at uneven grounds by the roadside. There were many people thronged to KLCC to celebrate new year.
By the time we reached Aquaria to use the tunnel to get to Suria, I was exhausted. But still I pushed myself to walk to the tunnel and through the tunnel. I kept telling myself I could do this, I could walk to suria klcc. I could felt sweats running all over my back, my forehead and down on my face.

By the time we reached suria, khalid, Raizan's friend from Egypt was waiting for us. First thing first, I was really exhausted and needed to get a wheelchair to move around Suria. It was late evening when we got there and we had about 2 hous plus to use the wheelchair. I deposited RM50 and left my driving licence at the concierge counter. It was such a relief to sit on a wheelchair. Helped to ease the burden of walking around with crutches.

At almost 10pm we had to retun the wheelchair and I was back on crutches. The the exit near the Dome to the fountain was closed. There were massive crowd  at the fountain and there were big crowd  trapped at the exit. The suria security directed everyone to use the exit facing Jalan Ampang and walked around the twin tower to the park for the fireworks.

At first we thought of going back but Khaled who has walked first to go back to his hotel to leave his shopping stuff called Raizan and asked us to join him at the park. The walk from the Suria exit to the park (which for most people will take 10 minutes) took almost an hour for me as I had to rest for every 10 steps. By now, I feel really really exhausted.
We got ourselves a nice spot at the park facing a big screen on suria's wall. After the fireworks, we waited for the big crowd to disperse and left small crowds but endlessly were passing the park to go to the main road at Jalan Pinang.

Walking back to Novotel where we parked our car was  another challenge, Too many people walking by the roadside, I was having trouble to go through the crowd. We walked slowly and made stops whenever I could not walk due to exhaustion.
I continue to walk until I felt sharp pain on my right pelvis. It felt like the ligament or tissues were torn but I could still walk. I really pushed myself hard to walk to get to Novotel and get into the car. Finaly, we got into the car, and I was drenched with sweats and a painful pelvis.

Altough mentally and emotionally I thought I could fight it to walk a long distance.
 I thought wrong. I could tell my body to work harder and the body will work harder for me but it will cause other complications. I have to know my at what point or limit I could push my body and work around those limitations.