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chbal Raplis happily displays the participation medal he obtained from a basketball competition at the Special Olympics World Games 2015 in Los Angeles a month ago. '€œIt makes me feel that I have won something,'€ he said.

Having recently graduated from the Asih Budi Foundation school for the intellectually disabled, Ichbal said that he hoped his basketball career would expand and that he had not skipped training sessions held at Rawamangun, East Jakarta.

'€œMy team beat teams from Switzerland and India during the competition,'€ he told The Jakarta Post enthusiastically, adding that he also got the chance to shake hands with the first lady of the United States, Michelle Obama, who opened the competition'€™s ceremony.

Indonesia'€™s delegation brought home 19 gold, 12 silver and five bronze medals from the event.

After graduating, Ichbal has worked at the school'€™s workshop making tissue boxes, doormats and sewing clothes.

Another student at the school, Ridho Aska, said he would not forget the day when his basketball team won first place at the national level competition for special needs children in Makassar, South Sulawesi, last year.

He hoped that his skills could earn him a place on the team once he graduated and continued his education at university. '€œI can score some points in every game, I hope it will help me to get a place in my future university,'€ he said.

Yani Suryani, a teacher at the school, pointed out Ichbal and Ridho as examples that the school would not stop treating and providing rehabilitation facilities to students with intellectual disabilities. At the same time, the school would push students to make the most of their talents in the hope that one day they could find their own place in society.

'€œSome of our graduates work as office boys at various places. However, their employers must understand that some intellectually disabled people have emotional issues,'€ Yani said.

Located in Duren Sawit, East Jakarta, the Asih Budi Foundation has 120 students from elementary to vocational high school level. The school recently built additional class rooms and a workshop room after receiving a Rp 2 billion grants (US$139,800) from the Lippo Group.

According to Yani, one of their teachers was also a graduate of this school. His main job was to show students how to sew, among other practical skills. She emphasized that the school would love to hire other graduates if they were capable and wanted to work there.

Yani said the school tried to provide a favorable environment for the children as a lot of them were often underestimated by their peers or even taunted by some people due to their handicap.

Kartini, the principal at Tri Asih Catholic school for children with special needs, said that sales of weaving and sewing products produced by its students reached Rp 150 million last year. She added that there were 35 graduates of the school sewing and weaving in the school'€™s workshop on a monthly salary of Rp 900,000.

'€œThe challenge is to find the intellectually disabled students who are also capable of working,'€ Kartini said.

Social Affairs Minister Khofifah Indar Parawansa praised the schools, saying that other special purpose schools should also think more about how they treated children with intellectual disabilities.

'€œDon'€™t just focus on giving them a home, but also teach them some life skills so they can live independently,'€ Khofifah said.

Furthermore, she hoped with the rising number of disabled people in the country, the House of Representatives would pass the disability bill into law in the near future.

The Central Statistics Agency (BPS) revealed that there were 2.1 million intellectually or physically disabled people in the country in 2009. The number increased to 3.84 million in 2012.