Mahmud Fasa, an amputee, had parked his motorcycle in the area designated for persons with disabilities, which was conveniently located near the station’s entrance gate. He was there to take a train to Cirebon in West Java.

But as soon as he parked his vehicle, a uniformed officer approached and asked him to move someplace else, as he pointed his finger at a sign of a person in a wheelchair.

“The security officer had no idea that it was a universal sign that applies not only to people in wheelchairs, but to all persons with disabilities,” Mahmud told The Jakarta Post on Monday. “So I asked him to call out his boss.”

Unsurprised, but with a hint of frustration in his voice, Mahmud said he had seen many of the officers and security personnel deployed to keep offices and public facilities safe lacking knowledge on disability issues.

In some cases, they didn’t even have the required competencies to be able to guide people with disabilities in accessing public amenities.

“So even if the parking lot is intended for people with disabilities, most of the time the authorities have a very different understanding of it. They tend to think that the sign only represents people in wheelchairs,” he said.

As head of the Association of Indonesian People with Physical Disabilities (PPDIF), Mahmud bemoaned the fact that many of his friends across the disability spectrum had shared similar experiences in trying to use public facilities.

“[Disabled people] will always need assistance, but sometimes the officers simply aren’t able to help,” he said.

Being able to use sign language when the occasion arises or being friendly in general to persons with disabilities is still hard to come by, so the PPDIF has requested that local administrations provide more training on sensitivity, particularly for security officers and guards.

Eka Setiawan of the Jakarta chapter of the Indonesian Union for the Blind (Pertuni) can also attest to the fact that authorities can be pretty unreliable.

“While they are often very kind when communicating with people with disabilities, sometimes they can’t provide proper and immediate assistance, as not everyone with a disability is easily identifiable as such [except for] the blind, because we always carry around a white cane,” he said.

But it is not all doom and gloom for Indonesia’s disabled community, as even Mahmud and Eka acknowledge that support for people with disabilities is improving, especially when it comes to putting in the supporting infrastructure.

Last year, the capital launched the Jakarta Disability Card, which aims to help underprivileged disabled people fulfill their basic needs. With the card, issued by city-owned lender Bank DKI, recipients get Rp 3.6 million deposited to their bank account over the course of a year.

The central government has had a similar program called Social Assistance For People With Disabilities (ASPD) since 2016.

In October, President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo signed Government Regulation No. 60/2020, which requires regional administrations to have a disability service unit (ULD) on manpower that provides support for the employment of people with disabilities. This includes the provision of equipment to support disabled workers.

Eka said many new buildings that had been developed in the past few years had also provided sufficient facilities and physical infrastructure for people with disabilities. The community had also gotten involved in urban development and planning, he said.

However, the operation and maintenance of such inclusive infrastructure are still lacking, as is the responsibility that needs to be incorporated into the training of authorities.

For people like Eka, that can be as simple as putting down a disconnected path of guiding blocks for the blind on a sidewalk full of trees.

“Sidewalks are managed by the Bina Marga agency, but the management of trees comes under the [city’s] forestry agency. This shows that disability hasn't become a truly multisectoral issue yet,” he said.

The head of the Jakarta Social Agency, Irmansyah, said the capital administration had massively developed the physical infrastructure side of things, especially ahead of the 2018 Paralympic Games.

The city had set out to continue development this year, but the COVID-19 pandemic had temporarily halted the plans due to the reallocation of funds in response to the crisis.

But Irmansyah also conceded that more people needed to be trained in how to deal with people with disabilities, such as giving them proper assistance, even if such training can already be found in the syllabi for civil servants.

“The city has a strong commitment to improve both physical and non-physical accessibility. We are truly sorry if some people still experience [inadequacies] in real life, but I’m also sure we are on the right track,” he said.

“We need more people trained.”

According to 2019 National Social and Economic Survey (Susenas) data, there are 25.6 million people with disabilities in Indonesia, equal to almost 10 percent of the nation’s total population.

Marthella Rivera, founder of the Koneksi Indonesia Inklusif (Konekin) advocacy group, said the capital was indeed on the right track to becoming an inclusive city, although there was also still much room for improvement.

Especially during the pandemic, public services have gone digital. However, not all digital platforms are considered disability-friendly.

“Also, providing the infrastructure must not be like ticking a box off a list, [there is also a need] to improve literacy in disability issues for the public,” said Marthella.

In commemoration of the International Day of Persons with Disabilities that falls on Dec. 3 each year, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said the vision of an “inclusive, accessible and sustainable post-COVID-19 world” can only be achieved through active consultation with persons with disabilities and their representative organizations.

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