Let go. Despite its implied simplicity, this is perhaps the most difficult thing for a parent whose child is intellectually impaired.
“Don’t be too overprotective or your child will have no future,” said Juan Fang, a homemaker.
Fang’s 28-year-old daughter Felicia is intellectually impaired, and “letting go” was what Fang had done over the years to teach Felicia independence and maturity.
The family had uprooted from Kuala Terengganu to the capital a few years after learning of Felicia’s condition so that she could have a better future.
“For Felicia to learn better and catch up in school, I made flash cards to help her. I didn’t give up,” said the soft-spoken Fang.
Today, Felicia is an office assistant at St Paul’s Anglican Church, Petaling Jaya. She has worked there for the last six years.
“She’s more confident and independent since she started working and interacting with people. Over the years, I had to let go bit by bit, or the family’s sacrifices and move to KL would be in vain,” said Fang.
Selangor Social Welfare Department statistics reveal that the registered number of those with intellectual impairment or learning disability in the state from 1998 till today stands at 13,924.
According to officer Eny Edayu Mat Ali, the actual figure is higher.
“The increase in the number of intellectually impaired from 2005 to 2006 alone, is significant – about 58%,” she said.
While the department has no records on the intellectually impaired who are currently employed, it admits they face a greater, if not the same challenges in getting job placements, no thanks to society’s prejudices.
“It’s even more difficult now than before,” said St Paul’s Day Training Centre (centre for people with intellectual disabilities) co-ordinator A. Annamaney.
Eny agrees, adding that the physically disabled have a better chance at employment than the intellectually impaired.
“Malaysian society holds very distorted views on disability. People are more
willing to employ the physically disabled as their limitation is physical,
whereas the intellectually impaired are just dismissed as cacat or
retarded.”
This has caused even high-functioning slow learners – who are capable of basic clerical, administrative and computer work, as well as despatching and packaging in an ‘open’ (real world) environment – to be mislabelled as unproductive.
“Given early intervention, those with learning disabilities can communicate,
think for themselves, and know how to be responsible in life and the workplace,”
said Eny.
Realistically speaking, seamless integration between regular society and the intellectually impaired community still appears a far-off goal.
“Japan was exposed to intellectual impairment at the same time as Malaysia, but Japan is far ahead of us today,” said United Voice co-ordinator Yeo Swee Lan.
United Voice is a self-advocacy society of persons with learning disabilities in Selangor and Kuala Lumpur.
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[tags : disability epilepsy autism children pediatric neurology]
