General News
See abilities, not disabilities
By YAQIN CHING ABDULLAH
IโM on the Light Rail Transit just after the peak hour in the morning. Those without a seat were standing comfortably enough in their own space. I offered a seat, which eventually became unoccupied, to a disabled man. He turned it down, and I promptly took it and reached for my book.
A passenger was aghast and gestured that I should have given up the seat for the disabled man. The passenger turned to the disabled man, who was asked yet again whether he needed a seat. The answer was an emphatic โNoโ.
I had to stop myself from telling the passenger, who had his concerns grossly misplaced, that being disabled does not mean you are thick in the head. The disabled man knew what HE wanted.
Likewise, IBM sees abilities, not disabilities in people. It recently collaborated with University of Malaya (UM) to hold the first career day for people with disabilities (PwD) in Malaysia. Some 70 undergraduates with different forms of disabilities from five universities โ UM, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Universiti Putra Malaysia, International Islamic University Malaysia and Universiti Teknologi MARA โ attended the day-long event. Speaking at the event, IBM Malaysia human resources director Kenneth Ho says the career day was part of IBMโs commitment as an all-inclusive employer to all talents, without discrimination against race, gender, geographic origin, culture and age, among others. โAt IBM, we recognise that people with disabilities also have education, experience and expertise to offer,โ says Ho.
One of IBMโs PwD employees, Loo Hwai Sheng, who suffers from spina bifida and is wheelchair-bound, shared his experience of working for IBM. Sheng, as he is known among his colleagues, joined IBM in 1996. Despite his physical disabilities, Sheng successfully led his team to expand the CATIA (Computer Aided Three-dimensional Interactive Application) business in Malaysia from a small base to a few thousand licenses.
They effectively positioned the product as the preferred design software for the Malaysian automotive supply chain. This created a spiral effect on the local Mechanical Engineering schools, which adopted CATIA as one of the preferred CAD Software for students. In sharing his experience, Sheng advised the undergraduates to adapt to changes quickly as change is the only constant in any organisation.
Additional Information
Country: Malaysia
Website: http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/articles/20100219202224/Article/index_html
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Source: Email from: TSUCHIYA Michiko
When: 04/3/2010
