Reforming the personal assistance scheme for persons with a disability

In all sectors of obvious public interest, we continue to seek people’s ideas, reactions, and proposals. It is only through public consultation that we can make sure that new laws, new schemes, and new initiatives encompass most of the feedback we receive.

When carried out in good faith, public consultations offer the legislator the opportunity to legislate in a wholesome manner.

The recent launching of a public consultation on the reform of the Scheme for Personal Assistance to Persons with a Disability, for example, is part of this ongoing process. Managed by Aġenzija Sapport, the reform is one of the measures featured in the government’s 2022 electoral manifesto. Several election pledges are being implemented at a very adequate rate by the Ministry for Inclusion, Volunteer Organisations and Consumer Rights.

The reform plan includes the full collaboration of various social partners, among them persons with a disability, professionals and experts in the disability sector, and local and foreign civil society organisations, among them the European Network on Independent Living (ENIL).

The eventual realisation of this reform will no doubt be yet another step towards the achievement of more independence for persons with a disability in Malta and Gozo. It will also mean that Malta, among some other countries, will be the first to apply the personal assistance service according to UNCRPD principles.

In our daily contact with persons with a disabililty and their parents and guardians, we are often reminded of the dilemma facing them when a surviving parent or guardian also passes away. In many cases, the only option for them is that of enlisting their loved ones into an institution. It is why with this important reform, personal assistants will, in such circumstances, be able to help the person with a disability continue living independently in their home.

The proposed reform fills us with hope. The launching of the public consultation has been greeted with enthusiasm by varous organisations and officials. Ines Bulic, Director of the European Network on Independent Living (ENIL), has come out praising Malta, saying it is yet another essential tool for persons with a disability to be able to lead an independent life. Ms Bulic also reiterated ENIL’s sustained support to Malta in implementing this reform successfully.

The Chief Executive of Aġenzija Sapport, Oliver Scicluna, too has come out describing the reform as yet another fundamental step forward towards the deinstitutionalisation of persons with a disability, paving the way for them to live independently within the community and so fulfil their aspirations. He rightly said that services like the Independent Community Living Scheme need to be absorbed into one of Personal Assistance, while still addressing the challenges that other services and schemes still present.

The public has until 30 November to submit its comments and suggestions to the plan being proposed. It is the public, including all persons with a disability and their families and organisations, having a say on the best way to offer persons with a disablity the autonomy they deserve, even in the choice of their personal assistants. In this way, a person with a disability will have the option of choosing both his or her preferred services and personal assistant.

It will hopefully lead to a welcome updating of various existing services and schemes and the introduction of new ones, all of them within the process of public consultation that leaves no one out anzz is open to consistent improvement.