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Visually impaired students left homeless after being evicted from Bandung rehabilitation center dormitories
They were forced to spend the night on a sidewalk in front of the rehabilitation center on Jl. Pajajaran, where they remained as of Wednesday with the help of volunteers and members of the public who helped them set up tarpaulin tents and provided them with food and blankets.
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Visually impaired students who were evicted from the dormitories of the Wyata Guna Social Rehabilitation Center for the Blind (BRSPDSN) in Bandung, West Java, gather on the sidewalk of Jl. Pajajaran. (kompas.com/Putra Prima Perdana)
D
ozens of visually impaired students were forced to vacate their dormitory at the Wyata Guna Social Rehabilitation Center for the Blind (BRSPDSN) in Bandung, West Java, on Tuesday evening in what the students described as a sudden eviction that left at least 30 of them practically homeless.
They were forced to spend the night on a sidewalk in front of the rehabilitation center on Jl. Pajajaran, where they remained as of Wednesday with the help of volunteers and members of the public who helped them set up tarpaulin tents and provided them with food and blankets.
Elda Fahmi, a 20-year-old student majoring in counseling at the Siliwangi Teachers’ Training Institute (IKIP) who was among the visually impaired students driven out of the dorm, claimed they were ousted because of a change of nomenclature for the place they had lived.
What had previously been known as the Bina Netra Wyata Guna Social Institution had been changed to BRSPDSN Wyata Guna, turning the social house into strictly a rehabilitation center, Elda said.
The change of nomenclature was made in reference to Social Affairs Ministerial Decree No. 18/2018 on technical operations of social rehabilitation under the auspices of the ministry’s Social Rehabilitation Directorate General.
“We don’t take any issue with whether [the institution] will end up being a social house or a [rehabilitation] center. But what’s the solution [to our situation]? Don’t disabled people have a right to express their opinions?” he said.
Elda, who chose to stay in front of the rehabilitation center with friends who had no other place to live, claimed the eviction happened quickly without any prior attempt at negotiation by the management.
