Mission to Malaysia and Disability Equality Training (DET) Training for Trainers
19-24 November 2005
DET was held at the Hotel Grand Continental, Kuala
Lumpur, Malaysia. Dato' Shamsiah binti Abdul Rahman,
Director General, Department of Social Welfare Malaysia,
extended a welcome and introduced resource persons, Mr.
Kevin and Mrs. Lucia McLaughlin.
There were 22 participants from Malaysia both government and non-government officers. APCD dispatched 2 staffs for collaboration of the seminar. The purpose was to enable disabled and non-disabled people to develop an understanding of disability based on the Social Model of Disability and to identify areas within their organization/venue that could be changed to promote participation of disabled persons. The contents of the training were comprised of:
- Famous People Exercise
- Disability Awareness and Disability Equality
- Attitudes and Awareness Exercise
- Word Power Exercise
- Rights
- Medical and Social Models
- Action for Change
- Day Plan and Session Plan
The goal of the training was:
- To identify language offensive to disabled persons and use more acceptable terms
- To begin to question and challenge attitudes and levels of awareness regarding disability
- To critically examine the medical model of disability
- To introduce the social model of disability, identify areas for change, and then develop an action plan to implement change.
The course enables participants to identify and address discriminatory forms of practice towards disabled people. Through training, participants find ways to challenge the organizational behavior which reinforces negative myths and values and which prevents disabled people from gaining equality and achieving full participation in society.
Furthermore, the method of the training encouraged participants to share their experiences and ideas on social discrimination through a participatory approach as well as group discussion during each session.
