No more parents should look down upon disabled children in society, and they should receive equal rights as others.Surabaya, East Java (ANTARA) - The Social Affairs Ministry is exploring collaboration with the State University of Surabaya (Unesa) to design a special module for parents with disabled children.
The module will be designed to reduce the incidents of sexual violence experienced by disabled children, Social Affairs Minister Tri Rismaharini stated at the Unesa campus on Friday.
Ever since she took on the position of social affairs minister two years ago, Rismaharini has acknowledged that the issue surrounding disabled children is one of the most difficult to resolve.
"The first reason is that there is limited knowledge about this issue. The second reason is that disabled children have limited education," she explained.
The lack of knowledge about disabled children is what drove Rismaharini and her officials to approach Unesa, which has a special directorate for people with disabilities.
"Because I lack the knowledge, I visited Unesa's rector to ask for help in handling disabled citizens. People with disabilities are not just children," she remarked.
She stressed that disabled children are not a disgrace that parents need to hide. They are far more gifted than many other people.
The plan is to have this cooperation for the creation of the module stipulated in a memorandum of understanding (MoU) that will be followed up soon, she stated.
A team is currently being formed by her ministry to discuss what the module will look like due to the unique circumstances of each disabled child.
She then expected that with this module, people with disabilities would be accepted in society and that no one would look down on them.
"No more parents should look down upon disabled children in society, and they should receive equal rights as others," she remarked.
Meanwhile, Unesa rector Nurhasan welcomed the cooperation, as the university has specialization in the field of disability studies.
Unesa will formulate the best module based on the minister's request so that disabled children can improve their competence and educate their families and communities to accept disabled children, he noted.
"We will prepare the formula with instructions from the minister," he remarked.
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Translator: Willi Irawan, Fadhli Ruhman
Editor: Anton Santoso
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