Oleh Riska Hasan Amelia*

Disabled organizations in West Lombok Regency, West Nusa Tenggara Province cannot be underestimated. The movement carried out by the Lingsar Bermobil Disabled Group (KDLB) and the Labuapi Center for Disabled Potential Development (P3D) in West Lombok did not stop at organizing at sub-district nodes. In fact, in March and June 2016, the two organizations successfully advocated for the creation of BPJS Health participant cards for people with disabilities and families. More than 230 BPJS Health membership cards in the Contribution Free Participant (PBI) category have been successfully issued. In accordance with the agreement with the local government, the BPJS Health PBI premium is paid by the West Lombok Regency Government.

Now, both communities are increasingly showing their fangs. Recently, disabled activists KDLB and P3D Labuapi succeeded in holding a series of discussions on the basic rights of disabled people at eight points at the village level. At least three to four villages were involved in the series discussions at each point. Without assistance from PATTIRO, six disabled activists, namely Khalid, Budi Santoso, and Jailani from P3D Labuapi, as well as Nurjiah, Siti Jakranah, and Amirah from KDLB organized and facilitated the discussion directly.

The disabled activists succeeded in facilitating discussions which were attended directly by a number of village officials such as village heads and hamlet heads, social workers, as well as disabled people and their families. After the discussion, disabled people and their families admitted that they had gained new knowledge regarding the rights of disabled people, especially the right to obtain health and education services. Village officials involved in the discussions also thanked the disabled activists because now they are starting to understand disabled people and their needs.

The success of the series of discussions on the basic rights of people with disabilities was inseparable from the seriousness of the PATTIRO facilitators in educating disabled activists about the importance of participation and independence. Thanks to PATTIRO facilitators who intensively involved disabled activists in various organizing activities, they were able to hold series discussions independently. Apart from that, the discussion went smoothly because other disabled people and their families who participated had quite high trust in the KDLB and P3D Labuapi activists.

The success of holding the discussion series was acknowledged by disability activists, KDLB and P3D Labuapi, as increasing their self-confidence. This is because, currently, they have been able to facilitate a discussion which was attended by many parties. They are also increasingly confident because they have succeeded in opening a space for dialogue with the local village government regarding people with disabilities without assistance from PATTIRO.

The two disabled organizations, which were formed in August 2015, have often been involved in various discussions with public officials. They also actively participate in budget discussion activities used to pay premiums for the BPJS Health PBI card. However, in all these activities, they were still assisted by PATTIRO facilitators.

The success of holding a series of discussions on disabled rights shows that KDLB and P3D Labuapi disabled activists are now starting to become independent and increasingly empowered. Their abilities and independence have also begun to open the eyes of the public and local government regarding their performance and abilities.

In fact, before being involved in the Disabled Care Program that PATTIRO implemented, disabled activists always received negative stigma from society and even their own families. Budi Santoso is one of the KDLB disabled activists who received discriminatory treatment from the community. He was once refused to work at a factory in West Lombok Regency because of his physical limitations.

However, instead of feeling inferior, Budi actually used this rejection as a boost to his enthusiasm. “Bad experiences like that actually trigger me to develop myself, so that I can show that I also have the same abilities as other people. However, I am always confused about where to go and what to do,” he said.

Seeing the success of Budi and other disabled activists, the two disabled organizations, KDLB and P3D Labuapi, have succeeded in becoming development platforms for disabled activists in Labuapi District and Lingsar District.

*) The writer is PATTIRO Management Information System and Reporting Officer