There are facilities specifically designed to make OKUs or disabled people’s daily life easier, yet we come across some who will take advantage of these facilities for their own benefit.
Recently, wheelchairbound Daniel Lee posted a series of videos of his confrontation with a man that took place at Pavilion Kuala Lumpur earlier this week. In the first video’s caption, the disabled athlete recalled that he needed to use the restroom but found it to be occupied. Here’s where it got interesting:
He suspected that the person inside the restroom was not disabled as he ended up waiting for 1 and a half hours. “I knocked 3-5 times to make sure someone was in there and I only heard someone say, ‘I’m not done!’,” he wrote. The wheelchair racer then decided to call the mall’s staff management and security for help. The person in the restroom finally exited and tried to walk away as if nothing happened. It was then discovered that the man was actually washing his clothes in the restroom.
The Asian Youth Para Games participant said that he would’ve forgiven him if he was homeless but sadly that wasn’t the case as the man confessed that he recently moved out and wanted to wash his clothes before returning to his hometown. According to the motivational speaker, the man kept giving excuses instead of properly apologising for causing the inconvenience. The athlete also asked him if he was disabled to which he rudely replied, “I’m not in a wheelchair like you!”. Daniel suggested waiting for security’s help with the situation but the man got upset and left the scene.
In the second post, the racer clarified that he had no intention of shaming the man and would’ve forgiven him if he’d actually cooperated but he didn’t. “The MAIN POINT of this is to show that this is a very very frequent thing OKUs face on a daily basis and that things have to change!” he captioned the post. The sportsman urged businesses like Pavilion KL to implement penalties and policies to prevent people from abusing facilities meant for OKUs.
Netizens’ opinions are torn after watching the videos. Many agreed with Daniel that there should some consequences for people who take advantage of these facilities while others pointed out that one does not necessarily need an OKU card to be able to use the OKU restrooms. There were also those who disagreed with the decision to film the man during the confrontation.
Some also suggested that the man could be struggling to make ends meet hence why he was washing his clothes in a restroom at a mall. At the time of writing, Pavilion KL has yet to respond to the viral video and the call for action to implement new policies that can protect OKUs.
Watch the videos below:
https://www.instagram.com/p/CqDjBS1JBFC/
https://www.instagram.com/p/CqFTFnip-lc/
