REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, SOLO -- The visually impaired people must not be forced to become just masseurs and must have more options, Indonesian Blind Union (Pertuni) Advisory Board Chairman, Bob Hasan, has said.
"The visually impaired people should be able to live a better life than those who can see," Bob Hasan remarked during a "White Cane Parade" to mark the 50th anniversary of Pertuni in Solo, Central Java, on Tuesday.
He said if the visually impaired people continue to become only masseurs, they will be unable to compete with modern massage parlors that offer better services.
Therefore, Bob Hasan noted that public awareness about the lives of blind people and the challenges they face must be improved since Indonesia has a large number of such individuals.
"What the blind need is better welfare," Hasan said.
Meanwhile, Pertuni Chairperson Aria Indrawati expected the local government to seriously collect data related to the number of blind people in different areas.
"Our message to the local governments is that they should seriously collect data to find out the actual number of blind people in every region," she said.
According to her, her party has been relying on the Ministry of Health's estimates that put the number of blind people at 1.5 percent of the total population of Indonesia.
"Indonesia's total population is 250 million people, and so the number of blind people can reach 3.75 million," Indrawati affirmed.
She also encouraged local governments to manage and empower the visually impaired people.
She said the White Cane Parade in which the blind participants will cross through nine cities, has already covered four cities of Surabaya, Tuban, Semarang and Solo.
Pertuni has conducted a number of activities, including blood donation campaigns to collect 1,000 blood units donated by the blind and organized free cataract surgery campaigns. It also oversaw the lion club giving away white canes to the blind to commemorate its 50th anniversary.
The White Cane Parade is to last for 9 days, from January 23 to 31, 2016. From Solo, the parade will proceed to Yogyakarta, Purwokerto, Garut and Bandung, and will end up in Jakarta.
