I am particularly honoured by your invitation to address the 34th Annual General Assembly of your Association and I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate the President and all of you for your commendable work.
We recognise that muscle diseases cause multiple problems at both individual and family level, requiring not only the provision of financial assistance to cope with the additional costs in the life of the myopath, but above all the provision of quality social care services, accompaniment, supply of technological equipment, psychosocial support, support for participation and socialisation.
The Ministry of Labour and Social Insurance places the issues of vulnerable groups of the population and persons with disabilities high on its priorities and constantly takes new measures to improve their quality of life. Our long-term goal is to combat social exclusion and empower people with disabilities to remain active and integrated in society.
On the road and in these efforts, you, the organisations, are our companions and partners. With members the people with myopathies themselves, or members of their families, or friends and volunteers, you are all valuable partners, complementing our actions and measures for the benefit of those who need them. Among the recent new actions of your Association, we welcome your collaboration with the Cyprus Paraplegics Organisation and extension of the work of providing home care to your Association members who need enhanced and specialised care.
Work not only as a means of livelihood, but as a process of creative social integration and skill development, is crucial for people with disabilities. Recognising this importance, our Ministry promotes employment policies and measures alongside social protection policies and measures. Taking into account individual specificities and capabilities, we provide options and outlets, both in the chapter of integration into employment and in the chapter of training and acquisition of knowledge and professional skills. Quotas for the recruitment of people with disabilities in the wider public sector, incentives for companies to employ people with disabilities, sponsorship for the creation of small self-employment units and supported employment are our policies for inclusion in employment.
Equally important, we consider social protection through social benefits that ensure an adequate standard of living and compensate for the costs of disability in life. People with myopathies may be entitled to a disability allowance under the minimum guaranteed income, a severe mobility allowance, care allowances for paraplegics or quadriplegics, a mobility allowance, financial assistance for the purchase of a car, a wheelchair and a wide range of technical aids to facilitate daily life.
Always aiming at strengthening the role of people with disabilities in society and highlighting their potential, we, as a Ministry, will continue to focus our efforts on eliminating stereotypes and prejudices, as well as on strengthening respect for their rights, promoting their equal participation in all areas of their lives. We have already promoted a number of new actions and measures which are documented in the first National Disability Strategy 2018-2028 and the National Disability Action Plans 2018-2020 and 2021-2023.
Another important reform is the government's decision to create the new Deputy Ministry of Social Welfare, to which the Department of Social Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities (DSI) will be transferred from 1.1.2023, and we look forward to further upgrading policies for social welfare and vulnerable groups of the population.
State services, institutional authorities, organizations, businesses, citizens, all of us have a duty to apply the principles of equality, respect for diversity, dignity, accessibility, participation and inclusion on a daily basis.
In conclusion, I would like to congratulate you once again for today's event and assure you of our commitment to work together to offer a better future for people with myopathies. This is what we have been doing since the first day of President Nicos Anastasiades' administration and this is what we will continue to do, within the framework of the President's vision of a Social Welfare State
---------- Note: The greeting was read on behalf of the Minister of Labour by the Director of the Department of Social Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities, Ms Christina Flourentzou.
(MB)
Contents of this article including associated images are owned by PIO
Views & opinions expressed are those of the author and/or PIO
Source
