The parliamentary secretariat for the Rights of Persons with Disability and Active Ageing supports a holistic approach to active ageing. The present government looks at the ageing of the Maltese population as a source of both novel challenges and opportunities.
While being deeply committed to launching innovative welfare policies that address the needs of frail and vulnerable older people, it does not lose sight of the aspirations of a growing sector of older workers who seek to delay their participation in the labour market. Unfortunately, this government has inherited dismal percentages of those aged between 50 and 64 years in the formal labour market. For many years, this sector of the working population was not supported by pioneering labour market.
We are deeply committed to turning around this state of affairs, to the extent that one-third of the recommendations in the National Active Ageing Strategy are dedicated to improving the active participation of older workers in the formal labour market. Recognising this novel policy impetus, I was invited to address a seminar on older worker policy organised by the National Forum for Trade Unions.
Fully aware that the more active participation of mature workers will contribute towards the economical growth of the country and the sustainability of pensions, as well as alleviating the burden of social protection, I underlined how my Secretariat is striving to promote the principles of health and safety in the workplace in order to increase the number of older workers until, and even after if so wished, statutory retirement. Without doubt, one of the top priorities of this government is to provide better working conditions for older workers, as well as bringing a more robust reconciliation between work and caring for frail relatives. This will be achieved by reforming the current policy framework through the initiation of specialised employment and vocational services for older workers.
I am proud to confirm that – after many years of inactivity and lethargy in this policy sector – the Parliamentary Secretariat for Active Ageing is implementing a strategic vision that has the potential to turn things around. This way, older people will be able to participate in productive lifestyles and also combat the poverty afflicting this stratum of our population.
Recently, the Maltese Sign Language Recognition Act was tabled in Parliament. In fact, the bill has already gone through its first reading and will now be discussed at Committee stage. The exciting thing about the Sign Language Act is that the deaf community and its collaborators, in a recent meeting I had with them, were enthusiastic that something about which they have been talking and hoping for is finally happening. They appreciated that this longawaited and hoped-for milestone has been achieved. As I said during our meeting, over the last few years I have had several meetings with the Deaf Association and I referred to a particular meeting in September last year that focused specifically on the issue of the Maltese Sign Language.
What I find terribly insulting – not to me, but to the sector – is that the Opposition are choosing to take a confrontational approach to every disability provision even if, on numerous occasions, I have appealed to them to keep partisan politics out of the fray. On countless occasions, both publicly and privately, I have recognised the work done by previous Nationalist governments. When I was an Opposition Spokeswoman myself, I always focused on the cause and needs of the sector, so while I understand the role of my counterparts, the sector deserves more – and better.
Our focus now, both government and Opposition, should be to see through the commitments and ambitions for this sector. The Maltese Sign Language Act is the first of its kind. It is the first attempt by any government to not only give recognition to sign language but also to provide the mechanism in this legislation that will ensure there is continuous monitoring and review of the sector. The Council will provide for the monitoring of the sector and will make sure that all the initiatives taken by NGOs, activists and experts involved in the field will be discussed and analysed and, if relevant, addressed.
What we need to ensure is that there is an on-going dialogue, a genuine exchange of ideas and a sharing of initiatives by all those involved. It is only through dialogue that this sector, which has been abandoned for so long, will receive the right boost. Back-stabbing, unscrupulous press reporting and misleading and disingenuous contributions in Parliament by the warping of facts will not bring us any closer to achieving this objective.
The deaf community deserves to be involved in government policy decisions, just as they were in the design of the National Policy for Disability Rights, taken cognisance of during the drafting of the UN CRPD State report. The National Commission for People with Disability and Agency Sapport are vigilant in ensuring that the needs and rights of deaf people are safeguarded. In addition, the NGOs focusing on deaf matters have been given all the access they need to the Parliamentary Secretariat I lead. Our commitment to having sign language interpreters and improved access to public broadcasting are also at the top of our priority list.
These are challenging times indeed but also very exciting and I am pretty sure that this sector will benefit from the commitment and resolve of the government, which has been so strongly and tangibly manifested over the past few months.
This Parliamentary Secretariat is continuing its work towards implementing the government’s strategy on dementia, one important pillar of which is training. In fact, after successfully organising various courses for people working at St Vincent de Paul, Karen Grech and day centres, this weekend the Secretariat has organised training courses in dementia care for Gozo General Hospital employees.
Calls for the Dementia Intervention Team will be published in the next issue of the government gazette. This first team will be comprised of a coordinator, a psychologist, an occupational therapist, a nurse and a social worker.
The team will not replace the clinical aspect but will focus on improving the quality of life of people suffering from dementia and their families.