Woke up to an excited SMS this morning.
Jana’s SMS read told me to read The Star, particularly Anthony Thanasayan’s Wheel Power column (he’s her friend and like her, he is also a local councillor but for a different district in Selangor).
I called her the minute I finished reading “Abby’s Dream” (which you can find at: http://tinyurl.com/6936z3).
Jana promised to email me some photos of Abby and said that the Rotary Club will be giving away wheelchairs to Abby and her siblings this coming Sunday, one day before Deepavali, at the Dewan Sri Jugra in Kuala Langat.
One anonymous person even SMS-ed Jana this morning, asking for Abby’s bank account number so he/she could make a donation to this girl.
Abby is one spirited 24-year old who works for the Jabatan Pengairan & Saliran in Sungai Sedu, Kuala Langat despite her muscular dystrophy. However, there are no disabled facilities at this government department so poor Abby has to ‘tahan’ and wait till she gets home to use the bathroom!
That’s terrible, I wailed to Jana.
Anyway, Abby has got one fantastic thing going for her – she has been nominated Most Outstanding Youth of the Year Award 2008 by the Asian Youth Ambassadors (AYA) based in Subang Jaya, Selangor. You can vote for her and I hope she wins. She’s a brilliant example to everyone because she doesn’t let bad circumstances get her down.
Abby has a few wishes of her own. She wants to get suitable wheelchairs and medical cushions for herself and her siblings (the Rotary Club is helping with this), to get a scholarship to study and of course, if you can, vote for her before the award deadline on Nov 2nd.
If you can help Abby in any way, call Jana at 016-436 2301.
My little community message to help Jana spread the news far and wide!
Sigh. Again… news on handicaps not being facilitate well. Some developing country we are. Our European counterpart provides better facilities to the handicaps and treated them like first class citizens, but Malaysia? Treats them as third class citizens.. 🙁
i actually do see some progress in the new buildings in malaysia….for shopping malls, mostly. but in many other places like apartments and office buildings, nada. our politicians are too busy battling each other for this kind of trivial issue lah, that’s the sad reality of it all. 🙁
@cleffairy: Haha, we cannot even treat out women with respect! The latest yoga news is such a bummer for my Muslim friends. Whatever crap will they think of next?
@ marsha: Yes, the loo at this complex where we are has a toilet for the disabled. But you see the ramps built in shopping malls? So steep. How to wheel oneself up the steep ramp? The person must have strong biceps! People who construct the ramps have no idea why they’re building them! In Batu Feringgi, the ramps are so steep even an able-bodied person may not be able to walk up using them. Haha, one more thing, bookstores like some bookstores we know have such narrow aisles! I suppose the disabled don’t read and don’t go book shopping ya? I won’t name which bookstore but there’s not that many in Malaysia and we all know it’ll be a shame if I named them! Esp the one here in Penang.