Marthese Mugliette is President of the Malta Federation of Organisations Persons with Disability (MFOPD) – the national umbrella organisation for the disability sector.
In a statement she has said that its Principles and Statement to Governments on Disabled People and the impact of the Pandemic of Covid-19 Coronavirus, the Commonwealth Disabled People’s Forum (CDPF) states that “During quarantine, support services, personal assistance, food and clean water supply, physical and communication accessibility must be ensured to persons with disability.”
In its statement to the Commonwealth Governments – Malta is represented by our Prime Minister on the Commonwealth of Nations – CDPF brings to their attention a number of recommendations which aim to address the range of risks people with disability face in the present Covid-19 circumstances, she said.
As stated by CDPF, “disabled people face the same risk as the rest of the population, compounded by many other issues: disruption of services and support; in some cases pre-existing health conditions, which leave them more at risk of developing serious illness or dying; living in an inaccessible world where barriers to goods and services are everywhere.”
Marthese Mugliette said that MFOPD wants to take this opportunity to highlight the following two recommendations forwarded by CDPF, to the Commonwealth Governments:
Put in place flexible and safe mechanisms to authorise disabled people to be able to leave their homes during mandatory quarantines, for short periods and in a safe way, when they experience acute difficulty with home confinement.
Government guidelines should ensure that Commonwealth countries focus on particularly vulnerable groups, such as disabled people and their families, when addressing Covid-19. They need to make sure that during the crisis they receive all the support they may need as a result of their greater vulnerability.
She went on to say that “MFOPD applauds the government and all concerned of how the present coronavirus situation is being controlled. It also applauds each and every one of us who, in some form or other, is helping for this virus to be contained.”
MFOPD said that it wants to bring to the attention of the authorities that there are “families among us who, due to the specific and particular impairment/s of one of the family members, are literally trying to make it until the end of each day. These families need external support which should be given urgently in today’s situations.”
Unfortunately, MFOPD said that it is not aware
of the measures to be taken if a person with an intellectual disability is positive to Covid-19 and needs hospitalisation
in such case, the support to be given to the family
of the support being given to those families whose children, due to their impairments, are finding it very hard to cope with their situation being confined to their homes
of the support being given directly to the persons with an impairment who are finding it hard to cope with their situation especially that they are now quarantined in their homes
If the above mentioned have been thought of and are being addressed by the authorities concerned, MFOPD said that it “asks for such information to be known to us organisations so as for us to be in a position to guide our members.”
This information should be made public as soon as possible and the support needed in the above mentioned circumstances, and similar ones, should be given immediately, it said.
Marthese Mugliette concluded by saying that, “in the absence of the above mentioned measures and support in place, MFOPD asks the authorities concerned to act upon. The involvement of persons with disability and their organisations is crucial for good positive outcomes with regards.”
The Malta Federation of Organisations Persons with Disability (MFOPD) is the Malta representative on EU and International fora. The Malta Federation (MFOPD) is a member of the Commonwealth Disabled People’s Forum.