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ust like other urban women of her age, Dian Inggrawati Soebangil, 27, sometimes takes late night transportation to her home in Tanah Abang. She also loves to dance and designs clothes.

What differentiates Dian from other women is that she is hearing impaired.

“My parents raised me just like any other child. I went to public schools and university. I took part in competitions in dance, drawing and fashion,” Dian said during a discussion to raise public awareness of people with disabilities held by Rotary Jakarta Batavia on Sunday.

Dian’s mother, Ratih Hermawan, said that while at first she was shocked to learn about her daughter’s hearing disability, she later saw that Dian was a quick learner.

“I never saw her as impaired because she excels in other fields,” Ratih said.

Dian has won around 400 trophies from the competitions in which she took part. Her latest achievement was becoming the second runner-up in the 2011 Miss Deaf World, a beauty pageant contest that was held in Prague, Czech Republic.

Another person with disabilities who also shines is Dimas Prasetya, English literature student at the University of Indonesia who cofounded an online community for the visually impaired through the website www.kartunet.com. The website, which is managed by 17 people, now has around 200 members.

Dimas created the community to share skills that schools did not give to prepare people with disabilities for the workplace. Through the website, Dimas shows that people with visual impairment can also write and surf the Internet, just like everyone else.

To allow visually impaired people to use the website, Dimas applies a special software that can read text on screen.

“I want visually impaired people to be able to get a job other than just as a masseuse. It doesn’t mean that being a masseuse is a bad thing but there are so many other things we can do,” said the 23-year-old who wants to be a diplomat.

Despite their achievements, both Dian and Dimas still have hopes that they can work in an office along with other fully able people. Dian said that she had applied for jobs but was turned down due to her disability.

“Currently, I work with a foundation for people with hearing impairment. I also design clothes because I want to be a designer and employ people with disabilities,” she said.

Inayah Wahid, daughter of late president Abdurrahman Wahid, said that in order to create a level playing field, people needed to have the mindset that everyone was equal.

Inayah, whose father was visually impaired and whose mother uses a wheel chair, said that being raised with two excellent people made her realize that there was no limit to achievement, even for people with disabilities.

“The limit exists only in our minds. When you think that you can not accomplish something, then you become a disabled person even when you’re fully abled,” she said.

She said that the problem people with disabilities often faced in daily life was the lack of accessibility, such as ramps for wheel chairs or elevators with voices informing passengers of the floors.

“As far as I know, the PBNU building in Senen is the only disability-friendly building. There should be more buildings following its example,” she said.

With the recent ratification of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, Inayah said that the law now guaranteed the rights in the legal form, but the challenge was to educate society in equality for all.

Dimas said that accessibility would not trouble able-bodied people as it would help people with disabilities to be independent and do activities without the help of others.