The Maltese, according to figures published yesterday, are clearly the European nationality most in favour of putting the ‘ability’ into disability, and they are also the most in favour of introducing more rights for the disabled as well as obligations on the public and private sector to ensure full accessibility.

Research published by the European Union yesterday as part of the current Disability Week, which reached its apex with Monday’s International Day of People with Disability, shows that the Maltese are in actual fact the most forward-looking people in the whole of the European Union when it comes to rights for the disabled.

While ‘disabilities’, according to the United Nations, is an umbrella term covering impairments, activity limitations, and participation restrictions; the EU survey, carried out by the EU’s statistical arm Eurobarometer  defined it as a longstanding illness or health problem. And Malta at 38%, according to the EU data, has the fifth-highest rate of disability in the EU among its population.

The survey’s results, in brief, show that no less than 90% of Maltese ‘totally agree’ that people with disabilities should be able to participate in society in the same way as people without disabilities – the EU’s second highest rate only after Cyprus. 

On top of that, 98% of Maltese believe that more money should be spent on eliminating physical obstacles that make the lives of people with disabilities and the elderly difficult – the EU’s highest rate along with Italy.  97% of Maltese agree that manufacturers and service providers should be required to ensure accessibility of the goods and services that they sell, and 88% believe that having common rules on accessibility would make it easier for companies to operate.

91% of Maltese, the EU’s highest rate, believe that better accessibility of products and services would improve the lives of the disabled and the elderly and the same proportion think such rules would help companies better sell their products to the disabled and the elderly.

96% of Maltese feel that there should be similar accessibility solutions across Europe and 98% said that public authorities should be obliged to provide goods and services which are also accessible to people with disabilities.

And only 25% of Maltese who said they or a member of their household have a longstanding illness or health problem have reported difficulties taking a taxi, bus, train or flight, just 29%, one of the EU’s lowest, reported difficulties using the sidewalk or crossing the street with a traffic light, and just 19% reported difficulties entering into a building or an open public space.  

Disabled Maltese have also experienced the least difficulty purchasing a product or service, with just 16% having reported such problems, and 88% have never or almost never had any problem voting.

That was a lot of numbers but the recurring theme here is that the Maltese undeniably lead the EU when it comes to rights and empowerment of the disabled.

Last October, Mata at long last ratified the UN convention on the rights of persons with disability, which officially came into force in Malta on 9 November.  The convention establishes that persons with disability are entitled to equal rights, moving on from the concept of charity to one of rights.

It also redefines the concept of disability and provides such people protection against discrimination in the right to life, access, independent living, education, employment and participation in public and political life.

Today in Malta there are no less than 80 voluntary groups which worked with disabled people and there are at present 1,300 people with a disability ion employment, according to recent figures.  80 of those currently work at local councils and that number is set to be raised by a further 150 thanks to a recent announcement that the local council work scheme is being extended to other parts of the public service and to NGOs.

Other positive budget 2013 measures include a ‘Job Bridge’ programme that will provide specialised training for disabled people to help them build the necessary employment skills, a tax cut on fees paid for residency services in respite centres, which apply to parents or relatives of disabled people up to a maximum of €2,500.

As from next year there will also be a mechanism to determine whether a person qualifies for the Special Disability Card, if they are registered on the Employment Training and Corporation disability register and the disability pension under the Social Security Act.

Another budget proposal will see two disabled people married before January 2007 being entitled to separate pensions and not a single conjugal one, while two resource centres will be built at the Paola and Hamrun secondary schools for disabled students to be given specialised and personalised services.

These are all positives and they build upon what has been done for this increasingly active segment of society, but more can always be done. For example, while the budget, very positively, included more forms of disability that are to benefit from non-contributory pensions, a long-anticipated step in the right direction, that actual pension was not increased.

But, all in all, and despite Malta having held back from signing the UN convention for so long - where it is believed there were reservations over assisted voting requirements – Malta, in political speak as well as in the people’s own opinion as evidenced by the EU survey, has moved in leaps and bounds to put the ability into disability.