February 23, 2021, by kebzfsh

A Journey of Raising Awareness on People with Special Needs – Ts. Dr. Bavani Ramayah

I am very grateful for being shortlisted for the Policy Impact and Public Engagement Awards. A dream that I have is huge and this recognition would be a stepping-stone for me to flourish as a responsible human to the society.

I am a self-starter who embraces new ideas that could give positive impact towards society. A conference that I have attended in the year 2008 inspired me to work towards disability related issues. Since then, I have been doing research about visually impaired people by collaborating with Malaysian Blind Association with a number of related publications. For the past 4 years, I have been organising public engagement activities by involving students and NGOs because such events will draw attention, provide understanding and change attitudes towards people with special needs, especially people with visual impairment.

The awareness event, which I have organised in conjunction with International Day of Person with Disability, has created some awareness about visually impaired people among students in UNM. Many activities were conducted such as presentation on Disability Awareness by CEO of Malaysian Foundation of Blind, poster presentation by Science Foundation students and live demonstration about various types of white cane used by visually impaired users.

In 2019 and 2020, I have been appointed as Secretary for IEEE Consumer Technology Society Malaysia Chapter (IEEE CTSoc). This opportunity paved a way to organise several activities in UNM in collaboration with IEEE CTSoc, such as knowledge sharing session by experts and project exhibition students from UNM. Currently I am working on a research that explores experiences and challenges faced by individuals with visual impairment during electoral event in Malaysia. The research will suggest an accessible voting environment that could protect the Rights of Persons with visually impairment. One of my initial research finding had been cited in a report titled “Inclusive Electoral Reforms in Malaysia” which was published in January 2020 by Bersih 2.0 (Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections).

I am continuously working towards activities to infuse awareness among public and encourage more students into carrying out meaningful, respectful and life-changing research. I believe all these efforts would create an awareness and be a voice for people with special needs.

Written by:
Ts. Dr. Bavani Ramayah, Assistant Professor, Foundation in Science

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