Commission for the disabled pushes for accessibility

The National Commission for Persons with Disability (KNPD) is at loggerheads with the university administration over the inaccessibility of Student's House.

The commission has filed a judicial protest after successive requests to make Student's House accessible to persons with disability fell on deaf ears.

Commission chairman Joseph Camilleri yesterday surveyed the work of the KNPD during a news conference, presenting a detailed 44-page report of the services provided, its activities, and points of contention during 2003.

Massive improvements have been made in the accessibility to the university in the last 15 years but Student's House still remained a "no go" area for the disabled, the commission noted.

Repetitive calls to rectify the situation during the past three years have been ignored and the commission was now hoping the court would set a deadline.

The commission has also taken action against the armed forces for the alleged discriminatory dismissal of a disabled soldier.

It filed a lawsuit against the Les Lapins Hotel on the grounds of lack of accessibility and in the meantime has proceeded with its lawsuits against Michele Peresso Ltd, Invicta Ltd and SBT Ltd.

The commission is currently investigating 79 new complaints of discrimination filed in 2003, a third of which concern accessibility, with another 22 dealing with issues of education.

Four individuals have filed a complaint in connection with housing issues and another three felt discriminated because of insurance matters.

The commission has in the meantime reached agreement on 182 complaints last year.

Mr Camilleri explained that no fewer than 832 persons with disability registered with the commission during last year, while over 1,400 attended disability courses.

The report notes that some 37 per cent of requests for reserved parking spaces were not approved, while 592 received the so-called blue sticker, which entitles persons with disability to park in public places reserved for them.

Mr Camilleri said the work carried out last year, as well as the feedback from various sectors, clearly showed that the stigma often associated with disabled persons' condition was being overcome.

The Labour Party's spokesman for social affairs, Marie-Louise Coleiro, said the inaccessibility of Student's House was unacceptable, especially since the institution was being serviced by public money.

Ms Coleiro lamented that not enough funds were being directed to Sapport, the disability support service.

Parliamentary Secretary Frans Agius said the government allocated Lm250,000 to the commission.