Getting around poses a problem
I am writing in response to the article 'Do more for the disabled, officials urged' (South China Morning Post, May 10). The anti-discrimination watchdog has criticised the government for not providing proper facilities for the disabled.
The Equal Opportunities Commission says the provision of barrier-free facilities at government-owned premises such as libraries and wet markets is 'far from satisfactory'.
There is a lot of discrimination against the disabled in the community. As a result, they face inconvenience as well as danger in their everyday lives. Take the Light Rail Transit (LRT), for example. Two years ago, a blind man fell from a station platform but survived. Since then, a lot of money has been spent to improve LRT facilities.
However, when this person was interviewed by local journalists about present conditions in LRT stations, the answer was not encouraging.
Although the facilities had been improved, getting on a train is still a challenging and dangerous task for blind people.
