I welcomed, with great satisfaction, the articles which appeared lately in The Times with regard to residential homes for the disabled. One was submitted by Joe Camilleri, chairman of the National Commission Persons With Disability (September 30) and the other by Lino Spiteri (October 3).

As an aging parent of an intellectually disabled person and on behalf of many other parents who, like me, are deeply concerned about the lack of commitment by both public and private sectors to address the acute shortage of residential homes for the disabled, I would like to add some comments.

There are at present hundreds of parents who will jump on the first opportunity to acquire a placing in a residential home with the necessary caring for their disabled son/daughter so as to ensure that they will not end up in a mental institution or home for the elderly with little regard to their mental state or age group. We are extremely worried about the uncertain future of our offspring especially when we are no longer able to care for them. We can only achieve peace of mind if, while we are still around, our son/daughter is happily settled in a home with the proper companionship, environment and caring.

I object to those who try to project Dar tal-Providenza of Siġġiewi, no matter its praiseworthiness, as the solution to our problem on the grounds that (a) the vacancies that may occasionally exist are negligible compared to the demand, (b) it is mainly a segregated institution which goes against the spirit of article 19 of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disability and (c) it is based on charity and not on the rights of the individual as highlighted in the UN Convention.

Mr Camilleri suggested that about 10 small, state-funded residential units within the community should be provided every year. This will be a great improvement considering the present rate of providing an average of one unit every three years or so. However, the present situation is so precarious that not even 10 units per year will go near to satisfy the demand. Of course I also agree that due to prevailing financial constraints there are limitations to what can be done and many times we have been told that there are more important priorities to consider.

One way to overcome this limitation is the creation of public-private partnership schemes on the same model as that of the elderly. I know of many parents who, with little regard to their own future and to the detriment of other siblings, are ready to sacrifice most of their life-long savings to ensure the future welfare of their disabled offspring. A substantial sum of money has to be put away so as to ensure for them a decent life for, say, a 30-year span. Unfortunately, this may not be within reach of many families unless some form of state aid is forthcoming.

Incentives should also be given to private entrepreneurs to provide independent supported living accommodation for the disabled with all the required amenities and caring as they do to the elderly.

Aġenzija Sapport should be involved to ensure continuity, proper caring and supervision.

Local councils should be obliged to give a helping hand by providing leisure activities and other support through the help of voluntary organisations.

The creation of private homes should be given full support and encouragement and with some form of state aid could be made affordable to a wider range of financial situations/family budgets. Legal, supportive structures should be introduced and special concessions be given to the families concerned in the form of tax relief, exemption of duties and the creation of trusts dedicated to the disabled as recommended in the excellent draft document re Independent Supported Living (ISL) referred to by Mr Camilleri and which can be downloaded from the KNPD website.

In other words, although any financial aid will always be welcome, at least, let us not burden any initiatives by imposing further taxes and penalties as the situation is at present. Is this too much to ask?

I serve on various NGOs’ committees and, at present, I am representing a number of parents who are interested in ISL private schemes. I can be contacted on ljb5940@gmail.com.