Disability activists have called for the government to reform schools for people with disabilities (SLB), while also creating a special law that focuses on employing people with disabilities.

Movement for Indonesian Deaf People'€™s Welfare (Gerkatin) representative Phieter Angdika, who is deaf, said the curriculum at SLB had resulted in people with disabilities being less educated than people at mainstream schools because the subjects taught at SLB were simplified.

"I visited Lombok and I was surprised to find that disabled high school students [from three grades] were placed in the same class and were taught the same subjects,'€ Phieter told thejakartapost.com on Tuesday in Jakarta, through his interpreter, Mine.

According to Phieter, the ineffectiveness of a sign language system created by the Education and Culture Ministry, known as SIBI, had also made deaf people at SLB unable to understand complex language. SIBI was created by non-hearing impaired people without involving deaf people.

Phieter said the government should consider adopting Indonesian Sign Language (BISINDO) '€” a system created by the deaf community '€” as the official sign language for SLB.

"The Education and Culture Ministry was wrong. My friends at SLB have less-developed literacy skills. Their writing skills are also bad and they cannot understand complex language," said Phieter.

Phieter added that people with disabilities also faced many employment challenges, mainly surrounding accessibility. People who are deaf, for example, are often not provided with an interpreter in job interviews.

Phieter said there was a lack of interpreters for the deaf as the government did not have a special education program in the sector.

"I hope the government will protect our [deaf people'€™s] rights and will try to understand our needs. Don't neglect us, we also pay taxes as other citizens do," Phieter said, adding that the government should involve deaf communities in its decisions.

Meanwhile, Dimas Prasetyo Muharam from Kartunet Foundation, a community empowering people with disabilities, said that although the government had ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, it had yet to create a law on employment for people with disabilities.

According to Dimas, although some companies had committed to employing people with disabilities, candidates rarely saw the job vacancies as companies chose the wrong information channels.

"When a job vacancy is posted in the newspaper, blind people cannot see it. And when the notification is through radio, deaf people cannot hear it," said Dimas, adding that the government should use other platforms such as social media.

Dimas said the government should form a talent pool for people with disabilities who had particular skills, in cooperation with NGOs that focused on helping people with disabilities gain employment. Companies could then recruit from the pool.

Meanwhile, companies and the government could develop more employment opportunities in creative industries where employees could work from home, as mobility and transportation remain a challenge for people with disabilities in Indonesia.

"We need the labor ministry to help us more so that we can cooperate with companies on disabled people'€™s employment. Because if they are given suitable and intensive training, they can also develop their skills like other ['€¦] employees do," said Dimas. (dan)(+)

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