THE Association of Disabled Muslims Malaysia is disappointed that the disabled community is still discriminated against by banks and insurance providers.

Its vice-president, Jasmadin Budin, said most disabled people lacked protection insurance and housing loans.

“Most disabled people do not have protection insurance because they are discriminated against.

“Until now, there have been no rules or guidelines to include the disabled in the (insurance) policy,” he told The Malaysian Insight.

Jasmadin said there were also insurance agents who called on disabled people to offer insurance, but ended the calls when they knew of their condition.

He said this was because insurance and banking companies doubted their ability to make payments despite having stable jobs.

“For example, there is a teacher earning RM2,500 a month who applied for a housing loan to buy a house which costs RM38,000 but failed.

“Banks view the disabled as unprofitable (to them),” he said.

Jasmadin urged the government to have a special quota for disabled people to get insurance and housing loans.

“If the government has housing loans for Bumiputera, we also request a special quota like that.

“Make a special policy for the disabled. For example, the government can introduce tax exemptions or give incentives to insurance companies that provide such facilities to the disabled,” he added.

Jasmadin admitted that insurance companies did find it difficult to give protection to the disabled as they are at risk of getting into accidents, and urged the government to focus on infrastructure development with a universal design. – October 27, 2018.