The Movement in Favour of Rights for Persons with Disability (MFRPD) refers to Dissett aired on Saturday 7 April on the subject of disability.

The presenter was correct when he said that this sector cannot be discussed in a one hour program. Notwithstanding, Mr Bugeja managed to discuss some points which left those involved in the disability sector with cause for reflection.

The Movement wishes to comment on some points raised during this program. Dr Azzopardi’s contribution merits more programs on the subject as what he said is the truth. However, there are more problems within the disability sector to be added on to his list. The disability sector is not doing well at all. There are serious problems and as long as the authorities concerned do not accept this, they are not going to address these problems.

The issue on the employment for persons with disability was brought up. The Federation’s President – the Movement is a member of the Federation – said that the Federation could not tolerate the fact that the authorities were accepting our supported employment scheme which was not giving results. So it invited the President of the European Union of Supported Employment to inform us, the Government and the authorities concerned about professional schemes for the benefit of all persons with disability.

We wish to point out that, except for the Ministry’s representative who read out the opening address and then left the conference, the Government, the KNPD and the ETC did not show up for the conference. Another issue dealt with during this conference was Independent Living. This was also addressed by another professional foreign speaker who had and is still doing research on this subject. The Support Agency did not turn up either. Furthermore, a few weeks later, the KNPD paid a Maltese professional to make a report on the subject. In our opinion the KNPD lost a golden opportunity to meet and discuss the subject with this foreign professional who would certainly had given them her professional views.

The lack of attendance of these authorities for these conferences which subjects dealt with are the same as the ones on the KNPD’s agenda, and this was confirmed by Mr Camilleri himself on Dissett, shows that the problems are more serious than one thinks. When the Government, the KNPD, the ETC and the Support Agency did not attend these conferences, they let down all the persons with disability and the message sent was a very negative one. These authorities took such a decision notwithstanding the fact that they are being paid from our taxes.

Another point mentioned was the composition of the KNPD’s Board with Mr Camilleri supporting the fact that, contrary to what used to happen way back, the seven members from the disability sector on this Board are rightly appointed on their own personal capacity. This notwithstanding the fact that the Equal Opportunity Act states otherwise. Who is responsible to see that this law is being implemented as it should be? Nothing was mentioned about the attendance of these persons – whether they are attending these meetings on a regular basis or not. According to Mr Camilleri, the KNPD is functioning well with the present Board (these appointments on personal capacity have been taking place for the last 10 years) and also that the reports and website are means of communication with the organisations. He continued to say that Malta will soon ratify the UN Convention and the KNPD has already started making the necessary changes to conform with the Convention amongst which to create a space to communicate with the organisations.

The Federation has been given the cold shoulder and ignored for these last 10 years! What if the organisations have lost interest because they have lost faith in the KNPD? No one can blame them – 10 years are a very long time. The positive thing about this situation is that these organisations are not responsible for today’s sad situation in the disability sector because it was being made sure that they were not directly involved. The responsibility of the present situation has to be shouldered by the few who are currently taking decisions.

We suggest that the KNPD inform itself about the number of organisations involved with the disability sector, and also change its attitude towards the Federation as the Federation is the national umbrella organisation accepted by the European Disability Forum as a full member. In the disability sector we talk a lot about ‘inclusion’, but ‘exclusion’ dominates within this sector.

■ Grace Zerafa

Movement in Favour of Rights for

Persons with Disability