On the eve of the 2022-23 budget presentation of the Republic of Mauritius, each segment will be harnessed to reach its full potential into shaping the nation’s demands. The Republic of Mauritius having signed and endorsed the United Nations Convention for Persons with Disabilities, it is therefore with much vigour that we anticipate the upcoming budget.
Over the years, the Republic through the state and policymakers have invested in critical and decisive sectors namely:
– Reaffirming our financial instrument model,
– Improving the education system,
– Redefining healthcare with the introduction of multiple specialized institutions and
– Continuously triggering our core sectors to allow individuals to emancipate.
The call remains to trigger policy decisions and adequately equip specialized institutions to develop a valid and sustained inclusion of Persons with differing Disabilities.
For appropriate empowerment and in order to affirm the abilities of persons with Disabilities, our institutions and legislations need to cater and include individuals with multiple disabilities to move together into shaping an environment which nurtures equity and fairness.
Access to Infrastructure and Services
Since 2021, the Mauritius Bankers Association (MBA) launched its digital and interactive map to help users with access to banking services all around the island. Basic access to banking and transportation services are key to emancipation of Persons with Disabilities, therefore inviting our Republic to devise valid and active access to financial services – establishment/amendment of financial services and products that are inclusive and equally accessible for people with disabilities.
Provision of assistive devices to enable persons with Disabilities to engage in economic activities, involving persons with disabilities in planning livelihood projects, financial instrument initiatives and microfinance, to ensure they can benefit on an equal basis with others.
The Training and Employment of Disabled Persons Board (TEDPB) should be in line with our academic and economic development models, thus making adequate provision to steer persons with Disabilities to be employed. It is about developing effective models of working with the private sector to promote the employment of people with disabilities in the formal sector and provide training to enhance their financial inclusion in the informal sector.
Education
The Special Education Needs Authority has been set up to accommodate for elimination of barriers and replicate the constitutional right to education for all within the Republic of Mauritius. The country has a constantly evolving education system with its heritage to adapt and reinvent as and when the needs arise. Advocates for the rights and inclusion of Persons with Disabilities reaffirm the Special Education Needs Authority to be adequately equipped with professionals of special needs education into developing a pedagogy and map persons with differing needs to have a schema which caters for the growth of their capabilities be it intellectual or artisanal focal points.
Healthcare
The pivotal policy decision should be access for all. From legitimate access to healthcare as described in previous budgets, namely domiciliary visits to the elderly and disabled; the gradual shift from medication to needs-based treatment.
As an advocate for the rights and inclusion of Persons with Disabilities, there is an emerging need to use the framework of mobile vaccination unit established and home medical visits to replicate accessible hospitals where our national and regional hospitals are engaged into meeting the medical and paramedical needs of aging population and persons with Disabilities. The advent of the Autism Day Care Center, Thalassemia ward for children and continuously improving visit of healthcare professionals remain decisive into improving the lives of persons with Disabilities.
Emancipation
Persons with Disabilities rely on defined legal framework to harness their abilities through continuous inclusion. Parents of persons with disabilities should be able to breathe, for a child with a disability is never a liability. It is the proper environment which has not been crafted for issues relating to disabilities. As pioneers to their child’s upbringing, each policy decision towards Persons with Disabilities is catalyst to developing an individual, a child, an upcoming professional and give parents the light of hope to believe.
Each disability is unique and the approach to solutions differs. We await our executive to demonstrate expertise and valid experience through cases and situations tackled. One step forward, the next milestone achieved. Inclusion is a continuous process and access is key to multiple possibilities – institutions and authorities can be restructured into offering persons with disabilities possibilities and opportunities to be self-sufficient and independent.
Are we doing enough to comply with and uphold the United Nations Convention for Persons with Disabilities?
Where decisions and policy decisions – which are geared towards persons with Disabilities – are drafted following due consideration and consultation?