OPR-  Monday, 23rd April, 2007

Your Grace
Excellencies
Distinguished Guests

 

The journey of Maltese persons with impairments towards inclusion into the mainstream of economic and social life is a very recent occurrence. In fact, they only began to be brought out into the light of day, sometimes out of dark cellars, as recently as forty years ago.

 

Unfortunately, the general attitude had been that disabled people were shunned. This negative attitude was to change very slowly with the launch, after 1945, of the first non-government organisations which began to regard disabled people in a more positive light and to advocate their integration into the mainstream.

 

Foremost among these progressive thinkers was Monsignor Michael Azzopardi, Ecclesiastical Assistant General of the Malta Catholic Action, who used the media to propagate the message that disabled persons were to be treated with the same dignity as the rest of society. His dream of setting up a residential home for severely disabled and often abandoned people became a reality in 1967.

 

For forty years, id-Dar tal-Providenza has stood as a beacon of hope to many families who were unable to provide the necessary support for a severely disabled child. It has also been a strong unifying factor in Maltese society where people from different backgrounds and different convictions have been able to join forces and work together towards a common Christian goal: the alleviation of individual distress and nurturing the complete person.

 

Legislation for the last forty years has tended to provide the necessary legal infrastructure to facilitate the integration of the disabled into society. In 1964 legislation was enacted to establish a non-contributory disability pension, initially for blind people only; later, in 1971, this was extended to all registered disabled people over the age of 16 years. In 1969 the Employment (Handicapped Persons) Act was enacted, recognising for the first time that Maltese disabled people were capable of productive employment.

 

All these reforms were firmly based on the Christian tradition of charity - a willingness to nurture life at its inception, to provide appropriate support to ensure a dignified, acceptable quality of life until life reaches its natural end.

 

The passage of time brings with it one certainty: change. Thus, by the late 1970s and throughout the 1980s, Malta began to witness the increasing involvement of parents of disabled people in disability issues. The first organisations set up by these parents were driven by the need to fill in gaps in service provision. Once again, new ideas brought changes in language and, for the very first time, we began to hear people demanding a shift away from the concept of charity towards the fulfilment of human and civil rights.

 

By 1987, Malta was, for the first time, au courant with the latest thinking in disability issues. The World Programme of Action Concerning Disabled People, adopted by the United Nations in 1982, was the inspiration for the setting up, in 1987, of a ‘national focal point’ on disability: the Kummissjoni Nazzjonali Persuni b’Dizabilita’ (KNPD) under the chairmanship of Dr. Lawrence Gonzi, Malta’s present Prime Minister.

 

Malta’s recognition of the civil rights of disabled people was enshrined in the first legal enactment of the new millennium. Act I of 2000 is entitled “The Equal Opportunities (Persons with Disability) Act of 2000”. This law drove home the conviction that it is society which is the major cause of disablement, not the individual’s impairment. Therefore, while disabled persons are bound to maximise on their own abilities, society must also play its part by removing disabling barriers.

 

On the 30th March, 2007 Malta took this commitment one step further by becoming one of the first member states to sign the United Nations’ Convention & Protocol On The Rights Of Persons With Disability (2007).

 

Maltese disabled persons today are justly proud of the fact that their rights to appropriate medical assessment and care, to a life-lifelong education, to meaningful employment, to freedom of movement, to respect as full adults, to parenthood and to an independent life based on informed choices are guaranteed.

 

This, of course, does not mean that there is no more to be done. The fact that these rights are guaranteed does not mean that they are always being fulfilled.

 

Our challenge as decision-makers is to ensure that rights are translated into a tangible quality of life and that that quality of life in turn translates into a better society.

 

For many years now, it has been our goal in Malta to create an inclusive society. A society where no individuals, regardless of their physical or mental impairment are excluded. I think that we all agree that this is the just and desirable way forward.

 

However, we often forget that inclusion comes at a cost. Not necessarily, or exclusively, a financial cost, but definitely at a cost of the way we do things and in the way we organise ourselves.

 

Like many of their peers abroad, disabled persons in Malta have embraced change. They have used their skills of persuasion, and where this has failed, they have used their legal rights to remind us that we all benefit by increasing access to the physical environment, by providing alternative means of communication to speech and printed matter, or by creating easily accessible goods and services. Changes such as these benefit society as a whole as they improve the quality of life of specific sectors of our population, notably the elderly.

 

As a society, Malta’s growing awareness of the social aspects of disablement, and our increasing determination to eliminate those barriers, physical and attitudinal, which erode the quality of life of individuals with impairment, has helped our national consciousness to grow to a new maturity. In a sense, disability has become a touchstone and expression of our humanity.

 

The key players in the gradual emancipation of disabled persons in Malta have been the Church, the State, public and private agencies, non-governmental organisations and, above all else, parents and other family members.

 

What is noteworthy is the fact that disabled persons themselves have been coming to the fore: making themselves increasingly visible and heard. What are they saying to us today? What are their dreams, their aspirations? How do they define themselves and their life?

 

In this new millennium, young, disabled persons do not want themselves, or their lives, to be regarded as ‘problems’, medical, rehabilitative, or otherwise. They reject the notion of themselves as mere research objects, or social problems to be discussed in their absence. Instead, they speak of themselves as protagonists in their own lives and consider themselves to be equal partners with non-disabled persons in the development and provision of services.

 

They demand access to education, worthwhile jobs and careers, the right to choice and a desire to live independent lives. How can we make these ambitions, which indeed may be regarded simply as birthrights, a reality?

 

These are some of the many concerns which I know will be occupying you over the next few days. Allow me to wish you every success in your discussions and efforts ‘to promote a quality of life worthy of human dignity’.

 

Finally, allow me also to augur that the fruits of this congress will reach far beyond the confines of these four walls to impact positively on the lives of all disabled persons in the Mediterranean.

 

There are no losers in a world which seeks to eliminate, or substantially diminish disabling barriers. There can only be winners. Thank you.