Editorial

The Maltese are a kind people. It is not only their island identity and their beliefs that give them this quality but a long tradition of being graceful with the visitor and generous with those in need, even if living thousands of miles away from our shores.

One wonders, therefore, why it took us so long to offer the same kind of assistance to those among us who are different through their "disablement" or for some other reason.

We have come a long way, though most people would agree not far enough by any means, to the detriment, often, not only of those in need of assistance but also of their families and of those who look after them.

We have (and since a long time too) the National Commission Persons With Disability. It is this same commission that surprises many with the comment that developers or architects are not abiding by the guidelines adopted by the Malta Environment and Planning Authority to ensure physical access to all.

Theatres, hospitals, churches, government offices, schools and other public buildings should be accessible to all people regardless of their athletic prowess or physical readiness.

And, yet, despite guidelines having being laid down long ago, the commission still reports that the number of buildings vetted for a compliance certificate last year was quite low - just 32 when compared to the 436 development applications submitted to Mepa.

The commission's annual report shows that 783 applications were received for the National Register of Persons with Disability. After striking off 940 persons who died over the years, the commission brought the total number of those on the register to 7,869, as opposed to 8,026 in 2003.

Last year, the commission issued 834 new special identity cards, entitling persons with disability to a number of benefits. Another 642 identity cards were withdrawn and the total now stands at 6,795.

Old blue stickers issued for parking benefits will be exchanged for new ones conforming to EU standards.

The Malta Transport Authority reviewed 91 requests for reserved parking places and the commission investigated 91 new cases of discrimination complaints.

One of the recurring problems concerns the administration of medicine to children while at school. The commission has, therefore, set up a working group to tackle the problem which is causing a great deal of harassment to parents, who have to "put their life on hold to drive to school every day, at a certain hour, in order to administer medicine to their child since nobody wants to take this responsibility".

Another cause for complaint concerns the day services for disabled adults. The services need to have more funds allocated in order to enable them to function properly.

Like the rest of us, Social Solidarity Minister Dolores Cristina believes that people with a disability retain their dignity more through an earned salary than a disability pension. Employment, therefore, is to be preferred to anything else we might think of so that people who might otherwise be "outsiders" find themselves enabled and brought inside, under the roof of usefulness and dignity.