Universiti Malaya Community Engagement Centre (UMCares)

Introduction

Be Able: Empowering the Disabilities is a platform where we, as educators, teach individuals with disabilities how to properly use **assistive devices**. Our goal is to empower them with new levels of personality in talking and communicating, and expose them to possibilities of **sports activities** for sustainable self-rehabilitation.

The main objective is to educate the People with Disabilities (**PWD**) on how to correctly use their assistive devices—including wheelchairs, prosthetics, and orthotics—while navigating daily life in a metropolitan urban setting like Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Impact Minute

Our Team

Ir. Dr. Nasrul Anuar Abd Razak
Expertise: Engineering and Assistive Device Design.
Associate Professor Dr. Thilagavathi Shanmuganathan
Expertise: Rehabilitation and Community Services.
Associate Professor Dr Rafidah Aga Mohd Jaladin
Expertise: Social Engagement and Urban Planning.
Dr. Maziah Mat Rosly
Expertise: Education and Training Methodology.

Collaborators, Partners and Sponsors

PLPP (**Pusat Latihan Perindustrian & Pemulihan** / Centre for Training the Industrial & Rehabilitation)

The Methodology

The PWD community utilizes this program as a platform to share their opinions and experiences on what they truly need with researchers, institutions, and designers. They also use the program to motivate themselves in communication, improve their participation in sports activities, and ultimately empower themselves to become better persons, such as by joining **para-sports activities**.

The rationale is that many PWD often do not fully understand how to use their provided assistive devices, feel unconfident in talking and communicating, and feel isolated from many accessible activities.

The program focuses on the PWD community from **PLPP** (averaging 50 PWD students per year), 10 PLPP lecturers, 20 University undergraduate students, and 5 University staff. It leverages **University of Malaya's** facilities and includes 3 important aspects:

Teaching and rehabilitation services.
Social and rehabilitation services.
Sports and recovery.

Impact on the Community and our UM Students

Impact to the community

PWD from PLPP were educated and made aware of the proper ways of walking and the use of technology.
Alumni from PWD were empowered with new prosthetic and orthotic devices, and assistive technology.
Teachers from PLPP gained new information regarding the technologies applied in prosthetics and orthotics.

Impact to the UM's students

Staff from UM were able to apply their knowledge directly to the community.
Students from UM gained direct exposure to real cases and deeper understanding through observation.

Moving Forward

The data collection about the proper way of walking, and the validation of corrective measurements for assistive devices in year one will be resumed with a follow-up study for year two to figure out the improvement of the prosthetics and orthotics users. The prosthetics and orthotics devices that have been provided to the PWD community will continue to be monitored, and the follow-up study of improvement will be measured for year two to determine whether the user can sustain using the information and technology provided by the Be Able team.

BE ABLE: VENTURING BEYOND DISABILITIES