From a young age you have always been at the forefront of various organisations. Do you feel that these experiences will help you with your work at CRPD?

Definitely, from a young age I grew up in activism. I was empowered and the girl guides had a huge role in the way I developed as an activist. Through activism, I began to realise what the issues were and I started to gain certain skills like lobbying and so on which are proving to be useful in my work today. I received a lot of training, such as for public speaking and advocacy, which all came from voluntary organisations such as the girl guides.

In the next phase of my activism I also formed part of the National Youth Council which elevated my understanding of policies and also how to communicate with politicians and so on. My lack of experience in the political arena was challenged during my time at the National Youth Council and this helped me a lot. At the end of the day this was exposure on how to go about realising an issue and being able to do something about it.

Through activism one also learns about the different sectors in society. I didn’t start my activism in the disability sector but I started with youth rights and women rights were I proposed for the age of consent for women to marry to be increased from 16 to 18

After that, I started to realise the different problems varies categories of people face. When I started to study, my main focus was on intersectionality which is an interesting concept about how people are affected when they form part of different minorities.

Your personal experiences were also life changing events. How did you push and persevere through those difficult times?

It’s not easy, and what I still have obstacles to overcome especially when it comes to my mental health. In my case in 2018 when I realised that I have something which is not common and then in 2019 I was diagnosed with Marfan Syndrome and I realised that I had acquired an actual physical disability. Therefore I started to identify myself as someone who is disabled even though I currently am within the confines of normality.  The truth is that even though my physical disability does not show currently, there are people with the same condition who suffer socially.

This process has served me with a learning platform by making me come to terms with this new reality. It is not always easy to come out of this with a positive look on things and I definitely didn’t go through this process all alone. Luckily I am surrounded by people who constantly support me, they see my potential and even when I lost all hope, the people around me were constantly pushing me to do better and come out of this process. I was even considering stopping my Masters studies because I wanted to prioritise my mental health and wellbeing. That’s why the support of the people around you is of utmost importance because without this structure, we will be lost in an exclusive system and it is very easy to get lost in it.

What was your reaction when you received the news that you will be the new commissioner for the rights of persons with disability?

When the minister called me, she told me to consider the position, she didn’t tell me that I will be taking up the role. It took me a couple of days to wrap my head around her proposal and in fact she ended up calling me to make sure if everything was ok.

At the end of the day it is a role with a lot of responsibilities and from being an outside member to CRPD to actually becoming the commissioner, is a totally different perspective. Before taking up the position, I had weighed the pros and cons but once I became the commissioner I realised that it is a totally different perspective which I had not seen before.

Thankfully, though, this was a positive experience. I am not the type of person who would push myself to the front and take the reins if I wouldn’t think I am able got get the job done. I entered the situation with the attitude that i’m up for it. Obviously I am not going to be perfect for the job from the get go but although I have a lot to learn, I am definitely going to give my best.

What made you take up the role?

This sector is something I am very passionate about. I have personal experience with this sector from a family aspect due to my sister having a disability. This has been part of my life from a very young age and throughout the years I could see how things have changed for the better.

As long as you have passion for the work one is doing, it couldn’t really be considered work. There is also the aspect of being able to take on this role. I have a family and myself whose wellbeing also has to be taken into consideration. I asked myself multiple times, Can I take this on?

You are the second person to hold this title, what are your plans for the future of CRPD?

I think that Oliver Scicluna has laid very solid foundation as a commissioner. Unfortunately he was not always portrayed with the best of adjectives since the commissioners role is to regulate which involves a lot of counter arguing with the aim of reaching an inclusive society.

In my opinion, the next step is to solidify the disability sector in the sense of unity. Unfortunately there is a lot of fragmentation in the disability sector. This is especially evident when it comes to the various NGO’s were everyone pulls a different rope. These different NGO’s who tackle different types of disabilities are all fighting for the same resources. In reality if we can unite and identify the common challenges which we all face, we can start pushing in the same direction and present a united front.

Moreover I would like to see more inclusion and mainstreaming when it comes to the decision making process and universal design. It’s useless being united as a disability sector but no one wants to listen to what we have to say. We do not want to be included in discussions for disability only. If we are discussing the economy, schools, infrastructure and so on, we have to add people with disabilities in the discussion as people with disabilities are not only knowledgeable in disabilities and more over the topics discussed affect people with disabilities as well. Not everyone has the knowhow on how certain decisions will affect different groups of people and although disability is a minority sector, it is the biggest minority across the world.

What are the challenging factors which CRPD currently faces?

In a general sense inclusion is one of the biggest challenging factors which we are faced with. An important topic which relates to inclusion are policies. This goes from designing a street to creating policies for various matters.

We have to stop seeing disabled people as a minority. We do not know who is disabled and unfortunately the first thing we think when we see someone walking down the street is that he is not disabled. Unless we see someone in a wheelchair, the thought does not cross our minds.

CRPD’s mission statement is to make the Maltese society a more inclusive one. How has the Covid-19 pandemic undermined this work?

I have been working close to the commission well before I took up the role. During the pandemic it was a constant battle when mitigation measures were announced. One of the most important things Oliver Scicluna pushed for was having a sign language interpreter present at the daily briefings in order for everyone to understand what is going on. If we didn’t fight for that right as a commission, there would not be the inclusion sign language in them.

It was a bit of a struggle and one begs to ask the question as to why. I do not think that it is an issue of the government or relevant authorities not wanting them to happen but rather due to the lack of sign language interpreters available which is around 3. This points towards an even bigger issue, that of lack of education about the subject of disability.

Without the concept of universal design, people without thinking omit people with disability from their thought process and the only way to combat this is through proper education on the matter of inclusion.