Progress towards greater inclusion of disabled people in society has been slow but fairly steady over the past few years. This is thanks in part due to the unstinting work of pioneers like Joe Camilleri, who, for a long time, headed the National Commission for Persons with Disability.

Now, Mr Camilleri has sounded the alarm bells over what he warns would be a terribly retrograde step: the planned creation of a so-called disability hub. In an opinion piece for this newspaper that has become a minor cause celebre, he called the move “segregation by stealth”.

The concept is outlined in the 2016 Budget document, which describes the €12 million hub as a place where people of “different abilities” can meet and have access to a number of services in a one-stop shop. The hub “will not be an institution” but will promote inclusion and community participation.

It will offer the facilities of a hostel, commercial spaces, a gym, a therapy pool and a day centre. Administration will partly be in the hands of disabled persons in an “empowerment programme” to help them develop entrepreneurship skills. The sight-impaired, autistic and diabetic will be among those deriving benefit from the hub, which will act as a prototype for the development of “holistic and integrated” services.

Following Mr Camilleri’s criticism, the government has been at pains to stress what it says is the inclusive nature of the hub that will be located in the heart of the Naxxar community. The project has also been defended by the present NCPD head, Oliver Scicluna.

Mr Camilleri is not convinced. In further comments to this newspaper, he said that while segregated complexes and services may not be designed that way, they tend to become like that over time. The place will become associated in people’s minds with impairment and disability and will eventually be shunned. For true inclusion, disabled people should use the same facilities as anyone else, he argues.

After all the hard work done over the years to promote the ideas and practices of inclusion, the last thing Malta needs is to go back to the dark days when disability was heavily stigmatised as a result of the effect Mr Camilleri predicts the hub would have on public perception. Therefore, the project needs to be examined not just on the basis of the practical benefits it promises but in the light of the bigger picture: does it advance the cause of inclusion or does it risk derailing the delicate progress made so far?

Will the hub promote respect for the dignity and autonomy of disabled people? Will its creation respect theprinciple of ‘rights not charity’? Will itcontinue to shift the focus away from the disabled person’s impairment onto the removal of societal barriers? Will it help or hinder the NCPD in its aim of fostering an inclusive Maltese society “in a way that persons with disability reach their full potential in all aspects of life, enjoying a high quality of life thanks to equal opportunities”?

These questions are all open to debate and interpretation butMr Camilleri’s warning must on no account be dismissed as out of hand by the government.

The aim of creating true inclusion may well be better served by spending the money on other projects, ashas been suggested, such as the provision of advice on independent living, schemes for assistive technology and the setting up of more dayservices and small residential homes in the community.

It is not too late to backtrack.