KUALA LUMPUR, March 29 — The Ministry of Communications and Multimedia (KKMM), through its Department of Community Communications (J-Kom), is collaborating with the Malaysian Association for the Blind (MAB) in an effort to boost empowerment of people with disabilities (PwDs).
J-Kom Education and Training Division director, Mohamad Husni Ab Aziz, said that persons with disabilities (PWDs) were among those who were most affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, thus limiting their ability to generate income.
He said that J-Kom, together with several other agencies, were actively studying how to improve the capabilities of the disabled community, especially in the field of training and skills.
“If we look at the issues and challenges faced by the disabled community now, one is to get job opportunities. For these individuals, based on the study conducted, the higher their level of education, the harder it is to get a job due to stigma and perception among employers.
“In Malaysia, we have nearly 600,000 PWDs. J-Kom will increase its focus on two-way communication between the government and the disabled community by assisting them in aspects of empowerment, especially in training and skills,” he told reporters after visiting the MAB complex, here today.
Husni said that J-Kom would also help the community by providing a platform and opportunities for their voices to be heard, besides raising awareness of employment opportunities.
On the visit, he praised the community in the complex, which also empowered its members by creating various initiatives to increase their ability to find employment.
“During the visit we witnessed the MAB radio programme, which is a community radio programme to reach out to visually impaired individuals. It is understood that these radio listeners are not only in Malaysia but there are also listeners as far away as Canada.
“We also saw visually impaired individuals printing special textbooks for others with similar disabilities, and how they were trained to operate a call centre,” he said. — Bernama
