The minister was giving a closing address at the European Disability Forum entitled Equal Opportunities Persons with Disability) Act & Policy in the European Union Malta organised by the Malta EU Information Centre.
The legislation passed in 2000 brought the country in line with the EU Council Directive outlawing discrimination at workplaces, Minister Cristina explained, which legislation was further confirmed by the new Industrial Relations Act of 2002, she added.
However, she insisted that there is more to be done. In this connection she pointed out that both the National Action Plan for Employment and the National Action Plan on Poverty and Social Exclusion address this issue.
The National Action Plan for Employment envisages new measures to ensure that persons with disability will have the necessary support to help them gain employment, remain in employment or advance in employment, she said. All measures in the plan should give special consideration to disabled employees, she said, in line with recommendations by the National Commission for Persons with Disability.
The statement is in line with a previous initiative taken by the ministry whereby it was decided that all initiatives undertaken within the EU Structural Funds should take particular consideration of disabled persons.
The National Action Plan on Social Exclusion makes this issue in various key priority areas, she pointed out, giving the Supported Employment Scheme for Persons with Disability as an example. The scheme was submitted to the European Social Fund for funding by the Employment and Training Corporation. The programme aims at providing incentives to employers to recruit disabled persons through financial assistance.
“In such a small country as Malta, and with such diverse factors as different types and degrees of disability as well as type and size of business, the tailor-made approach would appear to be most useful,” the minister explained; “a ‘one-size fits all’ solution may not be very useful in this context.”
She said that although, according to the National Disability 2003 Survey, 57 per cent out of the disabled persons registered in Malta between the ages of 16 and 61 are unemployed, only 16.5 per cent of them are
currently registering for work.
“One must delve deeper into the reasons for this low participation,” she said. “Emphasis should also be made on developing a person’s employability; the abilities and skills of all individuals should be the basis for selection in the workplace.”
To this end, Mrs Cristina said, another key priority of the National Action Plan is to ensure further inclusion and equality opportunities for students with disabilities or learning difficulties in schools. She said that students with disability represent 1.3 per cent of all pupils in secondary schools, but only 0.05 per cent of University students. “We need more data on trends relating to qualifications or professional skills of disabled persons, if we are to make further progress in their full integration in society.”
The Minister concluded by quoting then EU commissioner Anna Diamantopoulou, who on the occasion of the 2003 European Day of People with Disabilities, remarked that “the way people and governments respond to the needs and aspirations of people with disabilities is a yardstick of a society’s progress”.
“I am confident that, with all of us working together towards a common goal, this yardstick will indeed be one that we can all measure up to and be proud of,” Mrs Cristina said.