And what about us?

"This is a course for school leavers with moderate learning difficulties. Dan il-kors huwa maħsub għal studenti li jkunu spiċċaw l-iskola sekondarja u jkollhom diffikultajiet moderati biex jitgħallmu."

Both translations are quoted from the Mcast's website Pathway to Independent Living Programme.

We are youths who have Down syndrome aged 18 and over. We did not apply for the above Mcast programme as we are not school leavers from secondary school - as highlighted and specified in the above mentioned Maltese information. We are above school leaving age. Notwithstanding this, we have been informed that the age bracket of this year's students accepted for the Pathway Programme is between 16 and 22. This is unjust and discriminatory. We were not made aware of the change in age acceptance. So what about us now?

The recent Budget mentioned an increase of €16 million to the previous sum allocated to education. We want and wish to continue with our learning programmes so as to be trained and prepared for employment. We were thinking of benefitting from the Reach programme, a tailor- made programme for our needs. This programme is implemented by the Down Syndrome Association in collaboration with the Eden and Razzett Foundation. For the major part of us, this year was to be a continuation of this programme. This could have been made possible with the help from the government together with that of our parents' financial contributions. We are now informed that the Ministry of Education has refused to help with this programme as according to them, this is a 16 + programme and is beyond the compulsory education. Another reason given was that the State was offering other similar training at the Mcast and at San Miguel School.

What about us now?

The Mcast's Pathway Programme has been made available to others who are within the age bracket of 16 to 22 and thus beyond the compulsory education, but no funds are to be made available for our educational programme which is the only tailor made programme for the needs of us persons who have Down syndrome: while others knew about the recent changes incurred with regards to the age bracket for the Pathway Programme, we never had this information at hand.

Is this right? Don't we all have the same rights - right to be educated, for life-long learning education, for the same information? Aren't we also Maltese citizens and so shouldn't we also be included in the national life-long learning/ adult educational plans? We have the ability and want to access open employment but of course, due to our condition, we need more time to learn and to be trained. The obstacles and negative attitudes mentioned above hinder us from reaching our goals - to be employed and to live as independently as possible with the rest of the Maltese community.

We hope and ask for these injustices to be seriously noted by the authorities concerned and to remedy this situation at the very earliest so as our education can continue without any further delay and without any extra financial burdens, more than those that our parents have had to face so far.