Surya Sahetapy: "The special curriculum for deaf students from kindergarten to high school is equivalent to general kindergarten or primary school students"

Surya Sahetapy (Personal Document)

Law No. 8 of 2016 on Persons with Disabilities guarantees that the rights and opportunities for difable to be equal to those of other citizens. This regulation sets forth that  private sector should allocate at least 1 percent of their employment opportunities for difable. While in the public sector, government agencies are obliged to provide positions for employees with disabilities as much as 2 percent of the total number of employees.

This regulation has been positively responded by government institutions including State-Owned Enterprises. The National Public Railway Enterprise confirmed they will be  ready to provide such opportunities to difable for 2018 Eid.

“This law governs that there should no longer be discrimination," said Director of Human Resources and Information Technology of PT KAI Ruli Adi during the commemoration of International Labor Day at Station Bumiwaluya, Garut regency, West Java, Tuesday, May 1, 2018 as quoted in LKBN ANTARA.

Difable will be given positions according to their capacity. For example, people with physical disabilities can be positioned at administration desks. Law No. 8 of 2016 is expected to provide more and more opportunities for difable, so their living standards can be significantly improved.

Disparities in services provided for Difable

Problems of disparities are widely faced by difables, not just limited to those within employment sector. According to a deaf activist, Surya Sahetapy, these problems range from access to public facilities, education, media use, or even to the stigma that affect difable negatively.

For example, in education, Surya said that the learning materials  provided for students with disabilities are very limited compared to those for their ordinary peers.

"The curriculum content  for deaf students at kindergarten  up to high school is equivalent to the that of general kindergarten or primary school levels," said Surya in an interview last April 2018.

According to him, subjects taught at schools for students with special needs are at a lower level of weight compared to those at the general public schools. Difable have to study at inclusive schools if they want to learn materials at the same level.

The Education Statistics Data shows that Ministry of Education in 2016 has succeeded to increase the number of inclusive schools to a total of 31,724 schools with the number of students reaching 159,001. Inclusive schools offer inclusive education, thereby making difables able to study in public schools. These schools provide difable-friendly facilities so that they can mingle with other students.

The inclusive education promotes the empathy  among ordinary students toward their difable peers. This effort is effective in minimizing bad labeling toward difable.

Another problem is the lack of access to information. Surya said the deaf have problems watching TV because they cannot understand fully the content of the broadcasts. They need to be provided with closed captions or subtitles to help them understand.

"Television in Indonesia is still analog, while closed caption requires digital technology," said Surya.

Currently, television digitization becomes one of the targets in the discussion to amend Law No. 32 of 2002 on Broadcasting. Surya and other deaf activists encourage the digitalization of television so that later closed caption can be applied on Indonesian TVs.

Access to disability-friendly public facilities is also a challenge. Although not widely provided, difable-friendly public facilities are  very helpful  for difable to help them do their activities. For example, the National Library in Jalan Medan Merdeka Selatan, Central Jakarta,

 which is equipped with guiding blocks or guiding lines inside and outside the rooms. These guiding blocks which are laid flat on the floor    are different from the softer tactile paving found on the sidewalks along the streets to provide pedestrians who are visually impaired. This guiding blocks direct blind library visitors to places such as elevators, escalators, or designated rooms.

Another disability friendly facility can also be found  in sidewalks in front of Cipto Mangunkusumo Hospital. Not only guiding block, this sidewalks are also equipped with waist-high railings and iron grip that lead to the area within the hospital. The railings  are to help difables to move from one room to another. Persons with physical disabilities are forced to use wheelchairs use these railings to maintain balance while the blind use them for faster mobility. Although not always available, many public places  in large cities in Indonesia have now been equipped with difable friendly facilities.

“In big cities, difable services is generally good enough. However, this is not the case for small towns, as  many local governments are still oblivious about difables’ special needs," said Surya. He hoped that difable representatives and relevant stakeholders can sit together and develop policies which are more responsive to disability issues.

Promoting the Need for Disability Responsive Regulations

Access for persons with disabilities can be better guaranteed if supported by regulations. Formally, Indonesia already has regulations to serve this purpose. They include Law No. 6 of 1974 on Basic Provisions for Social Welfare, Law no. 4 of 1997 on Persons with Disabilities, and Law no. 19 of 2011 on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities to implement United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) issued by DPR RI in November 2011. The latest, Law No. 8 of 2016 on Persons with Disabilities was issued to guarantee  equal rights and opportunities for persons with disabilities.

And apart from the above mentioned regulations we still have  Law no. 39 of 1999 on Human Rights (Human Rights) and Law no. 40 of 2004 on the National Social Security System (SJSN) that also touch upon disability issues. In the field of education, there is Law No.20 of 2003 on National Education System and its implementation regulations.

To implement the regulations, the central Government encourages local governments to develop derivatively their local disability-friendly regulations. So far, according to the data from the Ministry of Social Affairs, there are only eight provinces that already put in place local regulations on disability, namely DI Yogyakarta, East Java, West Java, Central Java, DKI Jakarta, Bangka Belitung, Riau Islands, and Bali. Local regulations on disability must be jointly prepared and developed with elements in the local community who are concerned about the fulfillment of the rights of difable.