Dear Mr. President,
Thank you for presenting a five-year plan for the Government of National Unity. Thank you for mentioning Persons with Disabilities (PWD) as part of the future of an inclusive and transformational society.
Allow me to suggest a few ways in which this laudable aspiration can be a meaningful, specific action plan:
1. Central to your speech was a focus on job creation. For most PWD this begins and ends with internships.
Why can’t the government implement a policy to incentivise companies/organisations/authorities/ government administration to create meaningful and sustainable jobs for PWD?
2. In terms of combating poverty – a second important element in your speech – why not extend the current system of social grants for households with persons with severe disabilities to include a more inclusive approach that not only focuses on the PWD, but also the household and the broader support network? In this way, a less vulnerable care structure is realised.
3. What could the development of skills mean for young people with disabilities?
First of all, why not consider a review of the current system of special needs education? This often seems to be an isolated space for persons with disabilities.
The diversity of disabilities and the best way for each category should be considered to receive the best incentives. Added to this is when young persons with disabilities turn 18, all infrastructural support ends.
Here, vocational and tertiary education could be a specific instrument to make it possible for young persons with disabilities to acquire the necessary skills.
4. A last policy suggestion is: Why not demand of each ministry to include in its plans a specific aspect in terms of improvement of the lives of PWD, whether it is in the sector of transport, job creation, education or accessibility of administration services—actually all ministries?
Mr. President, let this historic seventh administration work for persons with disabilities.
* Marlene le Roux, Disability Activist.
** The views expressed here are not necessarily those of Independent Media.
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