At the closing session of a recent international conference on "Creative Communities and the Making of Place: Sharing Creative Experiences" at the Institute of Technology Bandung, one of the keynote speakers concluded that in the end, the focus should be on people rather than on cities.

This conclusion was certainly indisputable, because a city without people is dead. It is the people in their diversity who make a place lively. As shown by the present range of enterprises in Bandung, people are continually creating new things, either as a hobby, as an expression of art, for research purposes, or as a source of income. Gradually these creative products become an industry, called the creative industry. Not only do people do this creative work for their own benefit, but the urban economy flourishes because of these thriving businesses.

The blossoming of the creative industry, however, is not always followed by adequate physical infrastructure nor the proper use of such facilities. Bumpy and narrow sidewalks or the misuse of roads to park cars and motorcycles, are examples of inconvenience.

This provision of infrastructure does not result in equality of treatment for all social groups. People with limited mobility have to negotiate the obstacles of the city's roads and sidewalks. The groups that are often marginalized in taking an active part in social life are the poor, the elderly and the disabled.

The most underestimated are the disabled. They constantly face barriers to access physical infrastructure or opportunities for self development. They have the potential to make a significant economic contribution to the city, if only the environment could be more physically and socially friendly for them.

People are creative by nature and so are disabled people. By excluding them from development opportunities, the society neglects a rich resource of talented and creative people.

People who meet the standard of normalcy in performing creative work, predominate the creative industries. They are the ones who are healthy, agile, not disabled and have the financial resources to start an enterprise. Nowadays, young people are very much involved in creative industries.

Thinking creatively, they produce goods with an economic value. Their free spirit means allowing people to be different, which is sometimes difficult in our conformist culture. By tolerating different ideas, their creativity emerges.

In Bandung, under the flyover near a traffic light, we can watch a group of unemployed and poor people performing a street-show. They transform used things, such as tin cans, into musical instruments. With a dancing monkey and music, they get the attention of passing motorists, who stop when the traffic light turns red. During this time one of the group walks around to collect donations. This is one way of earning money.

Out of the many topics presented in the conference, was one paper that reviewed the capabilities of disabled women in creative industry, entitled "Enhancing the quality of life of disabled women in the creative industry: a perspective on creative communities". Although the core of the paper was disabled women, the discussion could extend to the creative capabilities of disabled people in general, women as well as men.

Because of the limited opportunities to develop themselves, they have lower formal education and less job opportunities. They are usually poor and become an economic burden for the family. However, disabled people have proven that they have the potential for artistic creativity, such as painting and embroidery.

Even if many disabled people are a capable source for the creative industry, they may be not so persistent in doing artistic work and tend to depend on others to make progress. This may be due to low self-esteem, as they are constantly reminded of their disability through overprotection or neglect.

They lack entrepreneurial skills. Its important not to confuse entrepreneurship with being business-like. All kinds of people, not only business people, need an entrepreneurial mindset to achieve a better quality of life. Entrepreneurship does not only go with certain types of persons, instead it can help the weak to improve their position. Without entrepreneurship, disabled people will not make qualitative changes in their lives.

The Ministry of Trade has identified fourteen kinds of mini economic sectors that can be included as part of creative industry. These include art, fashion, multi-media, computer and software. Disabled people have the capacity to take part in these areas of activity, if given the opportunity.

Apart from lack of entrepreneurship and marginalization, first and foremost disabled people themselves must have the determination to change.

The motivation to change is under the control of disabled people, but they are not able to avoid the barriers of the built environment and public transport, especially non-wheelchair friendly structures such as kerbs and steps.

These obstacles inhibit the making of place, where they can establish their own community. By gathering together frequently, they can create a sense of solidarity and commonality criss-crossing the barriers of disability. They will have the chance to develop leadership skills and bring about sustainable networks of mutual support. The involvement of disabled people in creative industries will make a difference in their lives. Assisting them to develop entrepreneurship and providing accessible environments will alleviate the arduous path to economic empowerment.

The writer works with the Research Center for Human Settlements, Ministry of Public Works, Cileunyi, Bandung. This is a personal opinion.

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