Surabaya, East Java (ANTARA) - East Java Governor Khofifah Indar Parawansa stressed the importance of the commitment to equal development to encourage the role of persons with disabilities or special needs to become main pillars of inclusive and sustainable development.
"Hopefully, people with disabilities, especially in East Java, can become part of society that proactively create an inclusive, accessible, and sustainable world order, particularly in the post-COVID-19 era," the governor stated at the Grahadi State Building in Surabaya on Saturday.
Parawansa said the spirit to realize inclusive development was in accordance with the topic of this year's International Day of Disabilities that touches the subject of meaningful participation towards sustainable inclusive development.
The governor made assurance that the construction and renovation of infrastructure in East Java took social inclusion into account by providing disability-friendly facilities, such as places for public services that can be accessed by wheelchairs and signs that can be understood by those with sensory disabilities.
"Inclusive development does not only aim to create a disability-friendly environment but is also a (real) form of government support for increasing equality, opportunity, and accessibility for persons with disabilities," Parawansa noted.
She opined that improvement of people's welfare must be thorough and should also include persons with disabilities.
"The East Java Provincial Government continues (to pursue efforts to) balance relationships, diminish inequalities and ensure equal rights, opportunities, habituation and accessibility of public facilities in the aspects of education, employment, entrepreneurship, and other public services," she stated.
Until the end of 2022, it was recorded that sustainable inclusive development in East Java was being realized through the Social Assistance Program for Persons with Disabilities (ASPD), with a total assistance value capped at Rp14.4 billion (US$933 million) for four thousand people with severe disabilities.
Social assistance is provided in the form of supplementary nutrition and therapy to improve welfare for persons with disabilities, who cannot be rehabilitated.
Furthermore, another form of social assistance allocated is for inflation and fuel oil increase, amounting to Rp2.4 billion (US$155 million), with its beneficiaries comprising the ones included in the ASPD program in addition to as many as four thousand people.
In an effort to improve equality, opportunity, and accessibility for persons with disabilities, the East Java Government also provides buffer stock of mobility aids comprising 200 wheelchairs, 205 multipurpose wheelchairs, 175 cerebral palsy wheelchairs, and 50 hearing aids.
"Not only physical assistance, in terms of fulfillment of civil rights, all East Java residents with disabilities have begun to have electronic ID cards, with maximum coverage by the civil registration office to homes for severe disabilities with bedridden condition. These great efforts will continue to be expedited by the East Java Provincial Government, so that the rights of persons with disabilities can be fully fulfilled," Parawansa stated.
