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Updated Tuesday, January 11, 2011 11:37 am TWN, The China Post news staff

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Bill to better quality of life for disabled

TAIPEI, Taiwan — The Legislative Yuan yesterday ratified draft revisions to a bill designed to safeguard the interests of physically and mentally handicapped people, stipulating that physically disabled people will have their ticket fares halved if taking public transportation systems in any city or county other than the city or county of their household registration.

Under the revised bill, local airline companies cannot refuse to carry physically handicapped people, and also cannot charge a flight ticket fare from those who accompany the handicapped people if the assistant is required. Violators will be subjected to a fine of over NT$10,000 and under NT$50,000, and the fines can be imposed consecutively for repeated violations.

The bill also clearly stipulates that local colleges and universities are allowed to create departments exclusively for the study of massage techniques by visually impaired people; and that non-visually-impaired people are not allowed to perform any massage-related business at hospitals, stations, airports, parks and government units.

In order to increase job opportunities for the visually impaired, the amended bill also requires government units to have at least one tenth of their telephone operators and customer service staffers hired from the visually-impaired, in case the number of such staffers exceeds 10.

It is also clearly stated that government units, private and government-run schools, as well as private and state-owned enterprises are required to reserve 2 percent of their parking spaces exclusively for use by physically disabled people.

Furthermore, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications is required to work out rules and regulations governing the establishment of uncluttered environments at public transportation systems before the end of 2011, and then put them into stringent practice.

The requirement comes as a response to complaints from disabled people that public transportation systems such as ships, passenger buses, airplanes and even train services are still full of obstacles, even though it has been requested that such systems be obstacle-free facilities over the past 20 years.

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