Problems of the disabled

This is the European Year of Persons with Disability. The Movement in Favour of Rights for Persons with a Disability would like to voice its concern about some of the problems faced by these persons, in the hope of seeing changes and improvements in this sector by the end of this year.

Unfortunately, inaccessible buildings are still being erected and public funds are still being used for the construction of our pavements and roads, both of which are a daily risk for all. Persons with a disability encounter difficulties throughout their lives due to their disability. These difficulties and problems are: within the education system, in adult education, at adult training centres, in employment and supported living.

The movement wishes to give a very brief picture of the actual situation with regard to some of these common problems.

Within the education system: the facilitators are not always being allocated to a student with a disability according to his personal and individual needs. Not all of these students have an individual education programme to achieve the goals of the national minimum curriculum.

The system does not provide support to the facilitators for the benefit of the student with disability. The lack of frequent assessments of these students does not support and direct the students to achievable progress. Our special schools lack professional services while there are instances where some of these students, who totally rely on others, lack the service of personal hygiene.

Adult education: Some students with a disability manage to continue their education like their peers - sixth form education and maybe even university. After benefitting from a mainstream education until the age of 16, students with intellectual disability are being denied fulfilling education by being transferred to special schools.

Adult training centres: Today the number of clients in these centres is so high that we are facing both lack of space and staff. The services offered in some of these centres need to be improved immediately.

Employment: When a person with a disability is not given the proper education and adequate training, he will find it very hard to work. Students with a disability are not being taught and trained to have access to the labour market.

Supported living: The supported living division has already been operating for over a year. Unfortunately, because of lack of serious planning and lack of information to all the possible clients, many persons with a disability and their families are not even aware of the existence of this division and the services offered. There are already a few persons benefiting from the services offered by the supported living division.

It is the responsibility of the state to provide the good services needed by the persons with a disability. The reality of limited resources puts on each and every one of us a responsibility to exploit these resources to the maximum benefit and to prioritise without any hint of discrimination.