By Wala’ binti Abdul Muiz Dzihni
GOMBAK, 19 June 2022: Community-Based Rehabilitation Centre or Pusat Pemulihan Dalam Komuniti (PDK) will set its foot in IIUM early next year as part of its collaborative effort with the Disability Services Unit (DSU) of IIUM in providing services to the disabled IIUM community.
PDK, established in Gombak Setia in 2015, will offer health services to disabled individuals ranging from physiotherapy, and skills training programs, to entrepreneurship in IIUM as brainstormed in a discussion between DSU and PDK last Tuesday (14 June).
According to the head of DSU, Prof. Dr. Ruzita Mohd Amin, IIUM-PDK is envisioned to be a living lab in implementing the best practices in universal design and inclusive education to uphold IIUMs reputation as an inclusive global award-winning university.
Prof Ruzita said the setting up of PDK in IIUM is an initiative made by DSU as part of the project called IIUM OKU4U Sejahtera and Islamic Outreach Flagship Project which is funded by the Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE).
The project also complied with the objective of PDK to be part of Malaysias National Recovery Plan announced in the Budget 2022 while achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) for a better and more sustainable future for all people and the world by 2030.
The current pro-tem committee of IIUM PDK consisted of the staff from DSU and parents of children with disabilities also known as IIUM Special Parents, a group founded by Assoc. Prof. Dr. Aida Mokhtar from the Department of Communication of Kulliyyah of Islamic Revealed Knowledge and Human Sciences (KIRKHS).
Currently, IIUM Special Parents is comprised of 75 members including the Deputy Rector of IIUM Gombak, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Zulkifli Hasan.
Among the activities organised by IIUM PDK included home visits to PDK-registered IIUM students who study at home due to disabilities. It also participated in entrepreneurial programmes such as selling foods and bags made from recycled materials and plants that were produced by the OKU IIUM students.
Besides, IIUM PDK also helped address gaps in early intervention and vocational training through Quranic and religious lessons for special needs children.
Currently, IIUM PDK operated temporarily at Mahallah Zubair and is planning to move to a new site at Mahallah Bilals principal house. As a record, 98 IIUM students registered with PDK as members with 22 of them disabled.***