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People living with disabilities in Indonesia are hoping for a better deal after lawmakers ratify an international convention on the rights of the disabled this year, although there is skepticism that the exercise will make much difference to their plight.

Muhammad Anshor, director of human rights and humanitarian affairs at the Foreign Affairs Ministry, said on Tuesday that a bill to ratify the United Nations’ Convention on the Rights of Persons With Disabilities (CPRD) was already in its final stage and would soon be forwarded to the House of Representatives for deliberation.

He also said that the ratification would require changes in the country’s legal paradigms to be effective, as the convention does not regard the disabled as objects but as citizens with rights.

As an example of the new paradigm, he said, the building of public facilities for the disabled should not be regarded as charity or a medical remedy.

The convention’s point of view is that disabled people are capable of making their own decisions and participating in public life on an equal basis with other members of society.

Indonesia signed the convention in 2007 with at least 80 other countries.

However, Anshor said it remained to be seen whether the implementation of the convention — after it becomes a national law — would actually bring about any real changes soon, adding that a lot of work was needed.

He said the convention is multidimensional and requires full, national implementation since this is not just a human rights instrument but also a development instrument.

The convention, he said, will not create new rights but is a compilation of other international human rights instruments that stress the needs of the disabled.

Jonhar Johan, a deputy for women’s protection at the Ministry for Women’s Empowerment and Child Protection, said that based on the 2004 Socioeconomic Survey, there are at least 1.7 million blind people in Indonesia, 602,784 deaf and/or mute people, 1. 6 million people with physical disabilities and 777,761 who are mentally handicapped.

He said the number was growing as the country’s life expectancy was increasing — as were the threats of chronic degenerative diseases, the number of accidents and natural disasters.

Many of the disabled live in rural areas and come from the lower classes, with limited access to means of support.

Didi Tarsidi, chairman of the Indonesian Association for the Visually Impaired (Pertuni), said society at large bears the responsibility of providing facilities that allow the disabled to lead their lives as independently as possible.

He said the disabled are often discriminated against in the public domain, citing cases of airlines refusing to take on board disabled passengers or banks that would not allow blind people to open their own account, arguing they were unable to read for themselves the terms of agreement for bank account holders.

“They could actually have their bank staff read out the agreement to us but it seems that the banks don’t even trust their own staff,” he said.