She said people living with disabilities must ask for what they have been promised, and make their presence felt at the voting booth.

People with disabilities might be technically denied the chance to enjoy equal rights with others, she said, “but the value of their vote is on par with everyone else”.

“We have a powerful vote in our hands, so I urge all people with disabilities to vote for the candidates who will provide results,” she said.

Bathma, as she is often called, has taken part in a number of initiatives to help the disabled community, such as getting approval for paraplegic driving aid and helping found both Wheelchair Tennis Malaysia and the Malaysian Spinal Injuries Association.

A senator from 2013 to 2019, she is also the president of the Association of Women with Disabilities Malaysia.

She said while policies have been put in place to help the disabled, implementation has been lagging. For example, access for the disabled is still lacking at many buildings although amendments had been made to the Uniform Building Bylaws in 1990.

The bylaws say all buildings and public areas must provide access for persons with disabilities, such as parking spaces and ramps, and signage and tactile assistance for the blind. However, many places are still not providing them.

Bathma said the women, family and community development ministry had supported setting aside a 1% employment quota within the ministry for people with disabilities, but across the rest of the government, only 0.22% of jobs went to persons with disabilities as of June 2019.

One of the biggest causes taken up by her and other community leaders is the establishment of a special department for disabled affairs under the Prime Minister’s Department.

She said the Department for the Development of Disabled Persons in the women, family and community development ministry had little power to operate across ministries.

“Our needs are across the board, like housing and transport. It’s hard for the OKU department to instruct the health ministry, housing ministry and transport ministry, for example, to implement certain things.”

With around 15% of the population living with a disability of some description according to the United Nations, Bathma said the community can be “a deciding factor” in choosing the next government.