‘Set up Office for Disabled People’
A NEW Office for Disabled People should be set up to help improve the lives of 6,000 disabled people living in the TRNC.
That was one of the demands made by the Cyprus Turkish Disabled Federation (KTEF) on Monday as it revealed a 15point package of measures.
The proposals were announced at a press conference to mark “May 10-16 World Disability Week”.
Speaking at the press conference, KTEF president Derviş Yücetürk said that the package includes demands such as the passing of special education laws and regulations, solutions to transport, mobility and access problems of disabled people, and the construction of a “Disabled Holiday Village”.
The KTEF plan also calls for the “urgent employment of four percent of disabled people, which has not been done since 2006”; cash assistance equivalent to the minimum wage to be given to disabled people who have a health board report stating they cannot be employed; carers of disabled people who need special care to be given an allowance, set at the same level
as the monthly minimum wage, “regardless of the financial status of the families”; the opening of more “rehabilitation centres” for adult disabled people; the immediate issuing of the necessary regulations for the urgent implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities that has been passed by Parliament; the urgent provision of exemptions from electricity, water and telephone bills for disabled people who are living on benefits; the provision of transportation services and caregivers on vehicles for all disabled children attending special education; and the “allocation of a space deemed appropriate by the government for a fullyequipped eye hospital” to be built by the Cyprus Turkish Blind Association “without delay”.
Last Friday Mr Yücetürk said that the TRNC falls short when it comes to the support available to disabled people.
Explaining that 800 disabled people have been employed in the public and private sectors under the Protection, Rehabilitation and Employment Act 1993 and that more than 5,000 disabled individuals have received cash benefits, Mr Yücetürk continued: “We are saddened that we have not reached the point we want in terms of employment or cash assistance.
“We regret that we are still far behind in our struggle for a humane life and that we are far below European standards.”
He added that the first organisation established for disabled people in North Cyprus is the Cyprus Turkish Blind Association, which was set up in 1976 and which last month celebrated its 45th anniversary.