Did you know that court can carry out proceedings in the Maltese sign language, that the Housing Authority provides financial aid to adapt one’s home because of a disability or that a trust can look after a disabled child when the parents die?

These are just three of the 87 questions addressed on a new online platform aimed at empowering people with a disability and their carers by knowing their rights and where to seek access to such rights.

The online site forms part of the Know Your Rights project, aimed at people with a physical disability, mental health issues and learning difficulties. It seeks to make information easily accessible, including through audiovisual features and leaflets.

The launch of the online platform followed a comprehensive research study into the main issues, interests and obstacles faced by people with a disability.

Interviews were held with people with a disability and their carers, focusing on several areas including employment, estate planning and guardianship, leisure and sport, access to goods and services, abuse and hate crimes as well as access to justice.

A set of Frequently Asked Questions was then compiled based on the information about the challenges the interviewees face.

The FAQs do not provide legal, medical or professional advice but offer general information and often link to the entity that could provide professional guidance and information.

Know Your Rights, a project by Inspire (The Eden and Razzett Foundation) with Richmond Foundation as a partner, is co-financed by the Voluntary Organisations Project Scheme 2018.

Log onto www.know-ur-rights.com for more information.

Some of the interviewees’ challenges

A 28-year old man, who encountered physical accessibility obstacles when attending a job interview to fulfil the role of a teacher, was told: “You should have informed us that you are a person with a disability.”

A deaf woman, who has to be accompanied by a relative on hospital appointments as she would otherwise spend hours waiting even though she would have informed the staff about her hearing impairment, said: “With the interpreter we should be served sooner… but how long can the interpreter wait? And what if she has another appointment with other clients?”

A woman who uses a wheelchair but has to share the road with cars in her hometown remarked: “Cars honking… they don’t wait because no one understands that you cannot go on the pavement. Lack of thought, lack of planning.”

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