What I discovered from real life experiences here in Malaysia and especially as a care-giver who used to bring a handicapped person out to do shopping at our local Malls, that there is very little awareness to handicapped people by the Management of such Malls. Firstly I would like to highlight one case where after a written request to them to provide handicapped parking lots at their premises, they really did that within a month! To them I wish to say a big thank-you and it reminded me of certain aspects of Social Responsibility being practiced.

Then there are some Malls where initially I could park at the handicapped lots, but now unable to! Reason given is that these are reserved for handicapped drivers only! Now, I fully agree to provide for handicapped drivers but at least leave one or two for people like us. Even with a care-giver to handle the wheel-chair it is still quite a challenge to go from car park into the main shopping area in addition to the difficulties finding a nearby parking lot. I just wish that they do give people like us some considerations. Guess I have to write to the Management to appeal.

Other observations that reflect this lack of awareness towards handicapped people are at Qeues at check-out lanes after shopping or at service counters. Even when the Qeue is long, we have to wait for our turns whereas in other Countries, we were given preferential treatment! Our worst experienced was at our KLIA! Can you imagine me having to handle a baggage trolley and a wheel-chair? Just could not handle that and I had to approached some officers on duty to help and even then they agreed reluctantly! Then at the qeue to pay for the parking ticket, we were made to wait in the long line of people because on that particular day, the auto-pay machines were out of commission! Of course we can wait in line but just noting the difference here and in other Countries where at most times the handicapped person is served first.

One surprising thing is that at our University Hospital Car-park, there is not a single handicapped parking lot! Can you believe this? Check it out yourself! We seldom go shopping over the week-end at the Malls just to avoid the crowd! In most modern Malls today in Kuala Lumpur they do have handicapped parking lots but the difficulty we faced is another set of issues! This particular Mall do not have travelators to go higher floors but instead provides escalators which wheel-chair cannot go, but they have lifts for that! What is the problem then? We discovered that quite a lot of people pushed their shopping trolleys from the Supermart into these lifts to go further shopping at other floors, using these trolleys as carriers! Their children sitting in the trolley together with their goodies! Already it is difficult for us to enter a lift which is not too spacious with the rushing crowd besides having these trolleys inside! At times we had to wait for four changes of lifts before we could get into one and that was at the mercy of some kind souls who allowed us in! Many of the people just rushed in immediately the door opens leaving us behind and yet they gave us a look that sort of saying what are you doing standing there! At times we do come across kind people who gave us preference but this seems to be rather rare.

One last point I wish to make is that, Management of Malls should consider the total friendliness of their premises to handicapped people rather than focusing on bits here and there. After all the whole place belongs to them unlike shops where everyone owner just take care of their own space. For this reason we prefer to shop at Malls for they are more handicapped friendly than our local shops! However Mall Management did not do enough or over looked bits of spaces here and there where the terrain is difficult for the handicapped on a wheel-chair. It is a case of continuity in the design layout.

What we suggest is that you able bodied folks just keep your eyes open and observe whenever you go to the Malls to shop. Perhaps you may understand the difficulties or in today’s politically correct word, challenges that a care-giver and a wheel-chair bound person faces. Do you think this is too much to ask for or are we too pampered?