According to the sensus in 2015, it showed that the total population in Malaysia is 30,331,000 people. According UNESCAP SDD to the 2015 nearly 1.3% of the country’s population is persons with disabilities, thus there are an estimated minimum of 359,203 people with disabilities living in Malaysia.
According to Tiun Ling Ta, Lee Lay Wah, Khoo Suet Leng : “Employment of People with Disabilities in the Northern States of Peninsular Malaysia Employers’ Perspective” from School of Social Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, School of Educational Studies, Universiti Sains Malaysia on 2011, These data are incomplete as registration of persons with disabilities in Malaysia is not compulsory, and is done only on a voluntary basis. In addition, the data are not up to date, as the names of those who have died are not deleted from the main record.
A card is issued to registrants with disabilities as evidence for their entitlement to benefits provided by the government, such as disability allowances, educational accommodation, income tax deductions and others benefits stated by the government.
The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Malaysia signed the Convention on 8/4/2008 and ratified the Convention on 19/7/2010. Malaysia should also consider signing the Optional Protocol to CRPD to ensure the monitoring mechanism on CRPD are in place, and to enable complaints to be made for any non-compliance with provisions of the CRPD.
A comprehensive study must be undertaken on its national legislation, and to identity provisions with need to be revised or amended so as to harmonise with the provisions of the CRPD.
The Disabled Persons Act 2008 must be strictly enforced and the national policy and national action plan and programs on PWDS must also be effectively to further promote and protect the rights of persons with disabilities and to eliminate discrimination against them in various aspects of life. All parties involved must play their respective roles, including Government agencies.
Law of Malaysia Act 685 Person with Disabilities 2008, regulates abount National Council for PWD’s, registration of PWD’s including the card of PWDs, Promotion and Development of the quality of life and wellbeing of PWD’s including accesibility (access to public facility, transportation, education, information, communication, employment, cultural life, recreation, leasure and sport), habilitation and rehabilitation, health, protection of Persons with Severe Disability and situation of risk and humanitarian emergencies.
The Malaysian Confederation of the Disabled (MCD) was formed in 1987 as an umbrella body representing the interests of cross-disability organisations. MCD functions as a consultative and coordinating body for disability organisations at the national level.
Currently, MCD has seven disability organisations as members. Together, this represents some 10,000 persons with disabilities throughout Malaysia. The organisation has played a crucial role in advocating for the 2008 Persons with Disabilities Act and also in urging the government to ratify the CRPD.
Besides that, MCD also succeeded in submitting budgeting recommendations to the government to have a special allocation for persons with disabilities in local and national annual plans. As persons with disabilities in Malaysia still face barriers in the public sphere, including access to hotels and other public buildings, MCD conducted training for its members and carried out an access audit of selected hotels in Kuala Lumpur. At the regional level, the MCD Chairman served as the Vice-Chairman of DPI AP for three terms from 2004-2010.
