Federation reacts to deaf people's association withdrawal

The Malta Federation of Organisations of Persons with Disability said it had learnt of the Deaf People Association's decision to terminate its membership in the federation through the media.

The association has not yet informed the federation in writing.

The association said last month the federation's executive council did not include persons with disability and that it disagreed with funds being used to build the federation's premises.

The federation said yesterday it felt the association took the decision because of "ulterior motives that have nothing to do with this matter". It said the Deaf People Association had not attended the majority of federation meetings and had never put forward any suggestions or complaints.

For the past three years, the association only attended four of the 35 federation meetings, the federation said.

The federation explained that its executive council was composed mainly of family members of persons with disability, or professionals because many persons with disability did not attend the meetings and those who did were not willing to be nominated for posts on the council.

The election of the executive council was carried out in a transparent manner, in line with the federation's statute, the federation added.

The federation had planned to have its own premises years before it received donations from the Strina 2001 programme. When it did, the executive council and the members discussed at length and in a transparent manner how the money should be spent. "Had the association bothered to attend these meetings, it would have contributed to the decision," the federation said, adding that it would continue to work in the interest of all forms of disability, whether they were represented, or not.