Africa-Press – Seychelles. ‘Let’s act to ensure the betterment of people living with disabilities’
“The International Day of Persons with Disabilities presents us with the opportunity to celebrate and embrace the diversity of human beings, as well as celebrate a specific group of people; people living with disability; we celebrate their achievements and contributions to the economy as well as the value which they bring to our Seychellois society.
“The theme this year is ‘Transformative solutions for inclusive development: the role of innovation in fuelling an accessible and equitable world’.
“This year’s theme propels us to dwell more on the topic of inclusivity in our society; inclusive development means the empowerment of persons with disabilities to speak and act for themselves at every level, within their family, their community, their country, or at an international level. Our society will simply have to transform to create the space to allow this to happen.
“The Ministry of Youth, Sports and Family give its commitment to putting more emphasis in 2023 on implementing the plans to make such provisions for people with disabilities. This requires of course collaboration and support from all of our partners especially civil society and the private sector.
“This year’s theme also highlights innovation as fuel to enable accessibility and equitability targets for the disabled community. Too often when we talk about innovation, we forget this group of people, so today we take this opportunity to invite groups, individuals and organisations that would like to dedicate their creativity to this special group of people to join us in making the impossible possible. Together we can implement projects and programmes that can significantly improve the quality of life of these families.
“Earlier this year, our ministry launched its theme, ‘Mon fanmir, Mon Leker – My family, my Heart,’ calling for more love, compassion, and understanding in our Seychellois family and society, so let us extend all of our support, our love, our compassion, our care, and above all, all our understanding for the families taking care of a loved one with disabilities.
“We commend you and salute your devotion as caregivers, and acknowledge that what you do is very challenging. Thank you for your love and kindness. We also extend our thanks to all those who in one way or another work to support people living with disabilities, from the School for the Exceptional Child, and all the way to civil society. Your work and efforts are not in vain and do not go unnoticed.
“The targets of accessibility, inclusivity and equal rights will not just happen by themselves; in the wise words of President Barrack Obama “we are the change that we have been waiting for” so let us wait no more. Let us as a country do better as from today, we need to come together to develop and carry out more effective strategies, stronger laws and policies to ensure the betterment of people living with disabilities.”
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