With the information from Report Two and Report Four of the Scientific Committee Report series, you will be able to see how you can better help the N.C.C. pave way for a better quality of life for people with disabilities in Malaysia.

For instance, action targets for 1988 which was recommended by the UNESCAP include:

• Establish a national forum of self-help organisations of persons with disabilities to include rural organisations, and marginalized groups
• Develop self-help organisations of diverse disability groups, which collaborate actively with rural and urban NGOs
• Establish a national policy to support organisations of persons with disabilities

Through the discussions at the Advocacy and Empowerment workshop, we'll be able to judge for ourselves how much we've accomplished in this area and perhaps make recommendations to see how we can further improve ourselves in this area.

In the same way, your participation in the other workshops can also assist us in providing information to the N.C.C. in order to ascertain a satisfactory quality of life for people with disabilities in our country.

Here's more information on the other workshops.

 
Gender and Disability Issues

• identify and propose amendments to the existing legal and social discrimination faced by women in the region
• specify strategies in disseminating information to women with disabilities and members of the public so that they are conscious of the rights of women with disabilities
• to empower women and ensure that legal and social matters pertaining to their rights are highlighted and included in policy-making agendas in order to promote equal opportunities for them

 
Socio-cultural Issues

• identify the existing negative and positive attitudes towards disability that manifest due to the respective socio-cultural context of various communities
• compare socio-cultural attitudes and behaviours with the explanatory model of biomedical causation of diagnosis and how each model can influence action taken in relation to treatment and rehabilitation
• Promote the utilisation of positive attitudes that relate to active rehabilitation of persons with disabilities

 
Sexuality (I) - Raising a family when you're disabled

• understand problems and challenges faced by disabled persons in raising children and other family members
• share experiences of disabled persons' daily living in both the urban and rural settings
• extent of community support and networking facilities received by disabled persons in raising their families
• discuss the basic challenges in the form of either physical and non physical obstacles in the home and community surrounding of the disabled persons
• application of non-handicapping facilities in the neighbourhood planning
• role of IT to facilitate or enhance quality living among the disabled persons particularly in raising their children

 
Research and Development

• highlight the importance of research and development in areas affecting the disabled persons
• research and develop strategies on the fulfilment of the 12 areas of concern as identified in the Decade's goal
• explore the "smart partnership" possibilities with interested parties or agencies either in the public and private sectors as well as the NGOs in the areas of research and development towards improving the quality of life among the disabled persons

 
If you'd like to participate in the other workshops, please contact the Chairperson of the Scientific Committee, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Zaliha Omar at:

Tel: 03-7585502
Fax: 03-7576915
E-mail: camp99@tm.net.my

 
So far we've discussed 8 topics, the others are as follows:

• Ageing with Disability
• Arts and Culture
• Children with Disabilities
• Community Development Programmes
• Disability Prevention
• Disability Work in Disaster/Crisis Situations
• Economic Crisis and Economic Independence
• Education
• Human Resource Development and Training
• Independent Living
• Indigenous Approaches in Rehabilitation
• Information Technology
• Self-help and Self-reliance
• Social Security
• Sports and Leisure
• Vocational Diversification
• Volunteerism in Disability Work

 
Remember your participation means a lot!