‘Make Life Bearable for People Living with Disabilities’

The Founder of the Mathew 25 House, an HIV and AIDS care centre, Reverend Monsignor Bobby Benson, has appealed to government to implement the disability bill to the latter to make life bearable for people living with disability.

He said despite the passing of the disability law, many people living with disabilities were still not having access to many public buildings and places such as health, education and decent employment.

Speaking in an interview with the GNA, in a Christmas message, Monsignor Benson said people with disabilities were not living their lives to the fullest due to lack of support and so “this xmas as we celebrate the birth of Christ, lets reflect on the challenges of these people and endeavor to work on them”.

He said people with disabilities were not inferior and only needed a push or support in the form of infrastructure and other things to enable them live independently.

The disability bill was passed into law in 2006 by parliament to champion the cause of persons living with disabilities by improving on access to public facilities to enable them have access to education, health and employment.

However,12 years down the line, Monsignor Benson asked “what has happened, all our public buildings remain the same with no access to the person with disability, high rise buildings are springing up without any recourse to these persons, our public transport systems have no place for them and so with requisite qualification, they can’t even get jobs”.

The Founder of the Mathew 25, who has employed a person with disability as his administrator, called on the public and all Christians who have the capacity to resolve this Christmas to adopt or employ persons with disability to be part of the mainstream society.

He said Christmas was time of giving and it should not always be about eating and drinking, but it should be a time for Christians and the leadership of the nation to reflect on all sectors of the population and endeavor to make life bearable for others, especially those who through no faults of theirs, were having a disability.

Source: GNA