T

he Indonesia Asian Para Games Organizing Committee (INAPGOC) has vowed to provide opportunities for disabled people to be further trained as volunteers at the upcoming Asian Para Games. Most of the volunteers will serve as liaison officers and thus become the tip of the spear during the sports festivities

The third edition of the Asian Para Games, which will be held from Oct. 6 to 13 in Jakarta, will require the service of 8,000 volunteers, with 150 people selected as coordinators, said Rezza Brammadita, the committee’s member of the arrival, departure and volunteer department, and the person in charge of volunteer affairs.

Of those 8,000 volunteers, he added, 5 percent of them, or around 400 spots, would be allocated for disabled persons.

“Giving the opportunity for people with impairments to participate in the success of the event is part of our mission. We are currently analyzing the requirement to look for which types of disabled people of can participate as volunteers,” he said recently.

He added that his department had selected 72 people to be volunteer coordinators, while the rest are currently in the selection process. All the 72 volunteer coordinators had passed the first batch of the selection process in December last year.

“These volunteer coordinators will become the leaders among other volunteers, and they will lead each division available at the upcoming Games,” he said.

For other volunteers, the committee will open registration this week and close enrollment in July. Information regarding volunteer registration can be accessed through the Asian Para Games 2018’s Instagram account @asianpg2018.

Later on, all the volunteers that pass the selection process will be distributed to several divisions, such as International Relations and Protocol, in which volunteers involved in the division will be the liaison officers for countries’ delegates; the National Paralympics Committee, which directly handles athletes’ requirements; and the Information Technology and Accreditation division.

Due to specific needs of the para athletes during the event, the committee has planned special training for the volunteers. All the volunteer coordinators will be flown to Solo, Central Java, in May or June to watch the activities of the para athletes, who are currently taking part
in the national training camp in the city.

“They will familiarize themselves with the daily activities of the para athletes for one week. We also plan to work with the Social Affairs Ministry to provide additional training for all the volunteers in terms of handling people with impairments,” Rezza said.

All the volunteers will also be provided with general training, such as language abilities, hospitality and knowledge about special equipment used by para athletes.

“Sometimes, we think that handling people with impairments must be difficult. What we want to do first is to change the mind-set of our volunteers, to show that they are handling actual athletes who are probably healthier than them,” said Rezza.

“For example, some athletes who use wheelchairs would feel offended or refuse if someone tries to help them. Assisting people with impairments means that we don’t just help them with our strength, but the important thing is how we interact with them,” he said.

Separately, the recruitment process for the Asian Games’ volunteers is currently entering the screening process by the accreditation team. Next week, the Indonesian Asian Games Organizing Committee (INASGOC) will conduct a psychological test on all of the applicants, said Tara Talitha, member of human resources and volunteer of the committee. Registration was closed in early March.

Later on, if any selected volunteers violate any rules, she said they would discuss whether that person would be replaced or not.

“If there is such a case [where a selected volunteer does not have the skills or required attitude], we would discuss it first with the group leaders of the volunteers how bad the violation is,” she said on Wednesday.