DR RADICA MAHASE
Recently, a social media post stated that the government should not have to care for people with special needs because the government doesn’t have money to help anyone; that it is parents’ responsibility to take care of their children and the government didn’t ask anyone to have children in the first place.
The post stated that many individuals with disabilities will never be able to help the country economically and will always be a drain of resources.
Recently, this perception of special needs seems to be more visible on social media.
At a national level, we project a nation where “all ah we is one family.” Does this "family" include individuals with special needs as well? Or is it survival of the fittest, wealthiest, healthiest, etc?
TT has been an independent nation for 59 years and a republic for 44 years. We have a constitution that says our nation is founded upon principles of “…faith in fundamental human rights and freedoms…the dignity of the human person and the equal and inalienable rights with which all members of the human family are endowed by their Creator."
Our Constitution also states that the nation has “respect the principles of social justice and therefore believe that the operation of the economic system should result in the material resources of the community being so distributed as to subserve the common good, that there should be adequate means of livelihood for all….”
Given this constitutional basis, is it not fair therefore that those with disabilities are given material resources so that they can also have opportunities for advancement?
Or, if we don’t believe in providing any assistance to the special needs population specifically, then we should just ensure that parents/caregivers, many of whom are taxpayers, have access to quality health, employment and training, education, security, social services, etc so that they are empowered to provide for their children with special needs. For surely, if there is an equitable distribution of resources, then maybe parents/caregivers will be able to provide for their special needs children more comfortably?
[caption id="attachment_891408" align="alignnone" width="868"] Government should care enough to provide resources for development of talents.
- Sataish Rampersad[/caption]
Surely by now we should have a well-established network of institutions, effectively functioning, which cater to the economic, social and intellectual well-being of all citizens.
Sadly, we are not at that level, because we are so very good at making excuses and year after year, government after government, we continue to fight all attempts to develop, to implement services, to ensure equitable distribution of resources and equal access to opportunities and services.
In recent times we have used covid19 as the excuse for all our shortcomings – that constant cry that the country has no money. However, now is a good time to remember that even when TT was in a better
