The CSR Digest

D The CSR
R Digest offers quality
q content on
corporatte social respon
nsibility (CSR) and
Exploring the
t Corporate Co
onscience
sustaina
able and respon
nsible investment
(SRI). The CSR Digest ex
xplores the

Corpo
orations, Education and People Living
L corporatte conscience worldwide,
w with a
special e
emphasis on Ma
alaysia and the
With Disabilitties Asia Pacific Rim. For ou
ur editorial
content, clickhere. The Digest is also
currently
y a free distribu
ution electronic
c
leave a comment
c » digest, s
so feel free to send your conte
ent
or press releases to us at editor [at]
csrdiges
st dot com .
By Jammes TS Chua a
It was with
w much expectation
e that I atten
nded the public forum Pages
on the Persons
P with Disabilitie
es Act 2008 8 at the Malaysian Bar
• About th
he CSR Digest
Councill on 17th Jaanuary 2009 9. People with various disabilities
d
• Sign Up For CSR Digestt Newsletter
(PWDs) were to con nverge and discuss perrtinent issue es they
face. I believed
b tha
at this wouldd be an extraordinarilyy positive
Search
step towward social inclusion of
o PWDs.

Howeve er, after the conclusionn of the foruum, I felt so

omewhat Subscribe to CSR Digest
shortchhanged. The e Act in its entirety
e is not
n satisfacttory and
Subscribe in a read
der
there is
s definitely more
m room for improve ement in thhe Act. I
thoughtt perhaps corporations s could helpp with thesee issues
Categorie
es
but no corporation ns were pres sent at the forum.
• Communiity

That is a big shame because there

t is one
e immediatee area of • CSR Diges
st Editorial

improveement that CSR-oriente

ed businessses can look
k into. • CSR Diges
st Interviews
• Environment

Education has long g been a priiority of nattion-building. Yet, a • Marketpla

ace

parent shared
s thatt she had tried every means
m of enrrolling her • Transpare
ency

Down Syndrome’s
S daughter in ailable schools (both
n all the ava • Workplace
e

general and specia al) in vain, either

e becauuse the teac chers were
Tags
not passsionate abo out teaching g or not serrious in caring for
accidents announcements CSR
disabledd children.
initiatives development
The Actt stipulates in section 282 that “Perrsons with disabilities
d
employme
ent erosion ethnic
city Fuel health an
nd
shall no
ot be exclud ded from the general education sy ystem on safety hum
man rights integrity logging
the basis of disabilities, and children
c with disabilitie
es shall Melamine migrant
Malaysia M
not be excluded
e from pre-school, primarry, secondarry and workersre
eporting sustainab
bilityToll unions

higher education,
e o equal ba
on asis with persons or ch hildren
s, including vocational training an
withoutt disabilities nd lifelong
©2008-2009 DC Publicatio
ons Sdn Bhd
learning
g.” Would th his not be remiss of these schools s to ignore -X). All rights rese
(846388- erved, except whe
ere
this moother’s desirre to have her
h daughte er educated like indicated.. Copyright of Dev
viant Art visuals
anyone else? remain wiith the authors/arrtists.

A Special Education lecturer frrom UKM ev ven revealedd that

there is
s still a long
g way to traiining student-teachers to
properly teach and d care for su
uch childrenn. If a teacher, a
highly regarded
r representativve of the rea
al world, cannnot even
master the basic signs for com mmunicatio on with Deaff
studentts, what would this tell about the state of ourr local
1 

educational institutions?
Page
  

Perhap ps businessees can discu

uss with non-governme ental organisations andd implemen nt a
long-terrm educatioon model pllan that inclludes schoool buildings with disabled-friendly
y
facilities and provision of special equipm
ment at zero o or affordab
ble repaymeent rates. Cheap
C or
zero stu udent fees can
c be offerred and a se elect pool of
o well-trained teacherss may be paid
enough h to convince them to dedicate
d the
eir attention
n to disabled students.

Apart frrom the imp o educational facilities, CSR businesses can also think of
provement of o
supportting PWDs in higher ed
ducational in
nstitutions.

Althouggh there havve been media mention ns of disablled graduates (blind, D

Deaf and
wheelchhair-bound) in universities, I wondder how much the gene eral public u
understands about
the fina
ancial strugg
gle of a parrent to put such
s a child
d through university stuudies.

University educatio
on does nott come cheaap nowaday ys, more so for disabled
d students who
w
generally come froom low-income and low wer middle-iincome fam dition, special
milies. In add
equipmment and tra t picture for a disabled student,, which
anslation services may come into the
add on to the finan
ncial burdenn. The monthly allowan
nce of RM3000 by the WWelfare Depa artment
for high on disabled students is
her educatio s just enoug
gh to pay fo
or the mealss and transpport.

I have a less well-to

o-do friend who is able
e to study Graphic
G Design in a pre
estigious loc
cal
university because of a genero ous scholarrship from a well-know
wn property company. He H since
then haas consistennt good graddes and is due
d to graduate this Juuly.

If only more
m CSR-b
businesses can
c step forrward and commit them mselves to p provide a stteady
stream of scholarships for deserving disa
abled stude
ents especia
ally in this e
economic
downturn. By this similar
s toke
en, business
ses would also
a do well to hire these talented people
after their graduation.

This willl then be in

n line with the
t Act’s vis sion of seein
ng disabled
d people hav ving “the rig
ght to
access to
t employm ment on equ ual basis witth persons without
w disabilities.”

The pubblic forum has

h been an n eye-openeer in terms of
o how muc ch we are soorely lacking
g in
educational progreess for disabled studennts. From th
his point, I hope
h that CSR-business ses will
take the
e opportuniity to bring cheer to disabled stud
dents and th heir families
s via better
provisio ational facilities and education spo
on of educa onsorship.◊◊

James TSS Chua is a freeelance writerr and an advoocate for thosee who are livinng with disabiilities.
2 
Page