The 3rd of December is the International Day of Persons with Disability. Marthese Mugliette President of the Malta Federation of Organisations Persons with Disability (MFOPD) said that they are taking this opportunity to raise concern about two essential rights and the situation of persons with disability with regards here in Malta. “The sole aim is to ask for improvement.”

Among others, she said that the Disability Hub Europe’s report ‘The 2030 Agenda, SDGs and Disability’ states the following about Goals 4 and 8:

Goal 4 – Quality education

Education is essential for people to acquire the necessary skills and knowledge to prosper and thrive in life, and is a basic pillar for access to employment.

Goal 8 – Decent work and economic growth

Persons with disability face significant difficulties in entering the labour market due to discrimination, lack of access to training and insufficient accessibility in the workplace, among other, resulting in higher rates of unemployment and economic inactivity.

Ms Mugliette stressed that “these two gaols are intrinsic to a high-quality life of persons with disability.” Quoting from the European Pillar of Social Rights, “Everyone has the right to quality and inclusive education, training and life-long learning in order to maintain and acquire skills that enable them to participate fully in society and manage successfully in the open labour market.”

She insisted that “the real picture is that this right is not being exercised as should be by all persons with disability.”

“We still have a situation where for example, persons with disability are being segregated and this by registering students with disability as full time students in resource centres situated far away from schools: where students with disability finish their scholastic years not yet ready for life outside of school: where these students are not ready, maybe even very far away, from being able to access open employment and this, among others, due to lack of skills: where life-long learning for these students does not exist and more such shortfalls,” stated Ms Mugliette.

She went on to say that the European Pillar of Social Rights also states that, “People unemployed have the right to personalised, continuous and consistent support. The long-term unemployed have the right to an in-depth individual assessment at the latest at 18 months of unemployment.”

Ms Mugliette said that MFOPD is not aware that this is happening with persons with disability. “Evaluation of what is taking place with regards to the employment of persons with disability needs to be considered and action should to be taken to rectify this situation.” According to the Malta Country 2022 Report – At 29.4 pps in 2020, the disability employment gap is above the EU average (24.5pps).

“This is food for thought to our policy makers,” MFOPD said and urged all Ministers to ensure that their policy makers “closely consult with and actively involve persons with disability and their representative organisations” in any decision-making processes.

Ms Mugliette concluded by saying that, “this is highlighted by the United Nation Convention on the Rights for Persons with Disability (UNCRPD) which Malta signed and ratified. It must be noted that, to ensure that the Convention be made part and parcel of Maltese law, Malta even has the UNCRPD Act.”

Permalink: MFOPD highlights two essential rights that are lacking for people with disability