President Irfaan Ali on Friday announced a $100,000 cash grant for children with disabilities and other key interventions to assist them.
Ali made the announcement at State House, where he met with parents and their children with disabilities.
After listening to the concerns of the parents and guardians, ranging from the need for public assistance and transportation to easier access to education, Ali assured that they would be addressed.
Currently, there are approximately 1,200 children that are registered and receiving public assistance.
In an on-the-spot decision, Ali announced that once the register has been verified, those children who are not registered will be automatically placed on the register to receive public assistance. This disclosure was met with loud cheers from the parents and guardians.
The assembled caregivers were also informed that the children will also benefit from transportation to and from school and plans are in the pipeline to upgrade classrooms to facilitate the needs of the children.
Further, the ministries of Education and Human Services and Social Security will collaborate to develop a special programme at tertiary institutions geared towards the education of the children.
Many adults present complained bitterly of the hassles they endure when applying for public assistance and the requirement to provide medical certificates as demanded by government officers.
The parents noted that despite the child/children having a visible disability, officers still demanded the medical certificate as part of the application for public assistance.
One woman mentioned that for every application submitted, she has been asked to provide medical records for her granddaughter, who is visually impaired.
“I got medical assistance for my granddaughter from August to December [2021] and I applied again. To date I have not received any assistance for her. Any child with a disability you would know it is very challenging financially. I am asking you, Mr President, to waive [the need of medical certificates]. They keep asking for the medical record of the child. My granddaughter can’t wake up tomorrow seeing – she doesn’t have any eye balls, so why I have to produce a medical every time?” she asked before receiving loud applause from those in the audience.
In response, Ali said there was no place in the public service for persons who deny children with disabilities help.
“I want to see that officer who would deny a child before them who [has a disability] public assistance. That person has no place in public service… If something is before you and [you] can see them, and you still deny them for whatever reason, then you don’t have the emotional capacity and should remove yourself from public service,” Ali said in response as he disclosed that they will be looking at automatic public assistance.
Further, in recognition of the challenges caregivers face daily, he said they will be proposing that those persons working in the public and private sectors benefit from more flexible work schedules. This measure, he posited, will allow caregivers to benefit from time off whenever situations arise. However, he cautioned that this will have to be discussed further.
Additionally, Ali spoke of plans to open business centres for Persons with Disabilities (PWD) across the country.
He noted that this will provide a space for persons to benefit from skills training, therapy facilities, product manufacturing, recreational facilities, a boardroom for meetings, a cafeteria, and washrooms.
According to the president, the newly launched online market platform has already committed to assisting in marketing the products manufactured at the centres.
Earlier this week, a release from the Office of the First Lady explained that once such business centre that would be constructed in Region Six was conceptualised to provide an opportunity for these individuals to have sustained economic power in order to meet their essential needs and contribute to community development.
“The plan is to have these persons, some of whom already manufacture high quality products, be able to increase capacity and readily supply the local and even regional markets,” First Lady Arya Ali said in a press release earlier this week.
Minister of Human Services and Social Security Vindhya Persaud, who along with the First Lady accompanied the president at the meeting, said the planned centres would be equipped with facilities for day and night care.
This, she said, will give parents and guardians the ability to work while their children are in professional care. Persaud explained that the day and night care will be subsidised, easing the burdens on parents and guardians.
“It will ease a lot of the pain and a lot of the difficulties you have to deal with,” she said to an applause.
By August, the government plans to have a training facility targeting the care of people with disabilities.
The minister also related that they are working aggressively to be able to offer wheelchairs, white canes, and hearing aids to all those in need, countrywide.
The Office of the President said the children who attended Friday’s meeting received a special package.
