KOTA KINABALU: Assistant Minister of Community Development and Consumer Aaffairs Anita Baranting said there are currently more than 26,000 persons registered as ‘person with disabilities’ in the state.
Speaking to reporters after launching the ‘Giving the Gift of Hearing 2013’ programme by the US-based Starkey Hearing Foundation (SHF) at Wisma Pertanian here yesterday, Baranting said these ‘persons with disabilities’ are classified into seven categories.
“The Sabah Welfare Department has classified 3,514 as hearing impaired, 8,760 as physically challenged, 10,202 as those with learning disabilities, 2,522 as visually impaired, 101 as those with speech difficulties, 543 as mentally challenged, and 903 as with various other disabilities,” said Baranting.
“With these numbers, the state government could certainly use some help from non-governmental organisations (NGOs) like SHF, which we hope other NGOs would emulate, to work together with the government in helping those in need,” said Baranting.
She added that such assistance is needed as equipment such as the hearing aids are costly while PWDs in the country and in the state come mostly from low and middle income families who could not afford it.