Non-profit organisation claims discrimination

The Equal Partners Foundation, a non-profit organisation supporting people with disabilities, feels it is being discriminated against after successive calls to the government for financial help have fallen on deaf ears.

While other organisations operating in the same field were being offered services subsidised by the government, the parents who chose to use the foundation's services had to fork out the full cost.

The foundation has been knocking on the doors of different ministries since it was set up in January 1999, only to be told each time there is no money available.

The foundation is upset that people who choose to use the foundation receive no financial help from the state.

Fostering the philosophy of an inclusive environment, the foundation focuses its energies on creating a partnership with parents of children with disabilities, their families and the community to promote informed personal choices and meaningful lives.

Having started off with just 12 families, the foundation now offers support to about 120 families and depends entirely on fees, donations and fund-raising.

The foundation provides a personalised service to each individual and their families with the support offered at home, in the school or the community.

Foundation president Colin Galea and vice-president Elena Tanti Burlò said in an interview that two "reasonable" proposals were submitted to the finance minister last November but no final decision had yet been taken.

The first proposal revolves around the concept of self-determination in the choice of services. With this in mind, it is asking the government to sponsor or subsidise an organisation chosen by a client.

"If a client believes that at the present moment his needs could be better catered for by a particular organisation, state funding should be transferred from one to the other - obviously there needs to be clear procedures for accountability," Mr Galea said.

The foundation feels the government is helping the same agencies year-in-year-out with not much money being left for new organisations. It maintains that everybody with a disability should be helped.

The second proposal is that expenses undertaken by parents for support and services should be deducted from taxable income.

For example, if the family is paying Lm1,000 in support services per year, or if they are paying for a facilitator because their child attends an independent school, this amount should be deducted from their taxable income.

In the meantime, the foundation is focusing its energies to ensure that families in need who use its services receive some form of sponsorship to cover part or all of the expenses.

To date, it has 22 individuals receiving partial or full sponsorship for their individual community-based programmes. Professionals from the foundation also provide a substantial number of free sessions.

"Our priority is investing in the child and not in the maintenance of buildings - we provide our services in the person's environment without removing them from their everyday life," Dr Tanti Burlò said.

The foundation is not replicating the work of similar agencies and believes it complements rather than imitates. It has also established networks with Dar tal-Providenza, the Cospicua Foundation for Persons with Disabilities, Appogg and the College of Agriculture.

A social cooperative, Koperattiva Socjali Franco Sì, has been set up in collaboration with the latter to provide new job opportunities for people with disabilities in the field of agriculture.