Apri Suhartanto is the name of a young man from Purwokerto City, Banyumas Regency, Central Java Province. This young man never dreamed of becoming a disability as well as a mobilizer for his community through the craft of character celengan.
As conveyed to jurnalis, Apri, his familiar greeting, was originally an employee of Bank Rakyat Indonesia(BRI) Syariah Banyumas Regency Branch. In 2013, he suffered an accident and had his left leg amputated above the knee.
The office where the Banyumas youth work was accommodating to the disability co-workers who has been happened to their employees. Apri, who previously held a position as a credit analyst, was mutated to the administration. The consideration is that the new position does not demand over mobility even both outside and inside the office. Therefore, allowing people with physical disabilities to continue to work well.
The move from the teknik part to the support is not too difficult for the figure who later became one of the disability activists in Central Java Province. The wish of one of the government Islamic bank was not in vain, because the figure of employees with disabilities who were the only at that time in the BRI Syariah managed to show its proud performance. The award given to Apri is called "The Best Support" in 2017. Sure, this is not unexpected because the company recognizes the existence and work performance of one of the employees who is also disabled.
In his office, work atmosphere has supported work performance, unfortunately has not been balanced by adequate accessibility. There were stairs connecting the lower and upper floors, and the lack of reasonable accommodation namely ramps, elevators, or lift. Therefore, the youth who born in 1981 should go up and down through the stairs doing mobility during his activities in the office.
Impact of his over-workload at the end and beginning of each months, his left leg was swelling, making it difficult to use prosthetic legs. Although the swelling will subside when the activities up and down the stairs reduced after overtime has hovered, but suffering every overtime each month, urged Apri to resign from his workplace. Finally, despite has been called "The Best Support", in 2020 employees with disabilities who passionately work in inclusion determined to resign.
On the other hand, desiring to develop his community lead Apri to join a disability organization called “Persatuan Penyandang Disabilitas Indonesia” (PPDI) Banyumas Regency since 2015. His partiality to his community, reaped the trust of members of PPDI Banyumas Regency. Next, this inspiring figure in 2018 was elected as a leader. Furthermore, partnership to various entities has been done in order to open opportunities for people with disabilities in Banyumas Regency to acquire skills and knowledge. To illustrate, the micro business training supported by Jateng Bank and Sudirman University provided training craft to make plate from “lidi” (stick). Based on the partnership activities introduced Apri to a person with disabilities from Kebumen Regency, who had a capability in craft especially making character piggy bank. It was the commencing of training character piggy banks for people with disabilities in Banyumas Regency.
