Ever been in a room with a person with a communication disability? Are you able to engage with this person with communication disability or is the barrier to communicate too wide? How does our society connect with people with communication disability?
In celebration of Better Hearing & Speech Month, the Malaysian Association of Speech and Hearing (MASH), in collaboration with Yayasan WIBA Prima and with support from Prasarana Bhd has organised a “Ride the Train Programme” on Wednesday 10th May 2017 from 10am till 12noon.
This programme aims to provide a platform for people with communication difficulties to engage with society and to give society a chance to learn about inclusion of people with communication disability.
This is an event that helps the public learn communication skills, develop sensitivity and openness towards inclusion of others who are different from themselves. When interacting with someone with communication difficulties, it helps to listen more, to look at the person, to use hand gestures, to allow time for the person to respond and to be simply compassionate. These pointers we printed loud and clear on the back of the event t-shirts.
Puan Nor Shahrina Mod. Zawawi (MASH President) said: “Communication disability results in difficulty in making friends, difficulty accessing the school curriculum, returning to work, engaging in simple day-to-day activities such as making purchases, requesting for information and many more activities that require adequate communication skills.”
“People with communication disability often feel socially isolated, misunderstood and may suffer from low self-esteem and poor confidence.”
Communication disability afflicts children and adults across all ages. Communication disability can arise from congenital conditions such as cerebral palsy, hearing loss, autism, delayed speech and language development etc. as well as acquired brain injury such as stroke, traumatic brain injury, cancer, Parkinson’s Disease, Motor Neuron Disease, etc.
Under today’s “Ride the Train Programme”, people with communication difficulties will ride free on the LRT from KL Sentral Station to Pasar Seni Station engaging with riders, buskers, vendors and the public to highlight the importance of communication and providing pointers on how to include people with communication difficulties within conversations.
