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December 27, 2007
Good news from Shalika-Sri Lanka
Dear jicafriends,
Soon Sri Lankan PWDs too will have a special Identity Card which they may use to make avail of many facilities. The Sri Lanka Council for the Blind is happy to announce that their proposal was accepted and approved by the National Council for Persons with Disabilities this week.
Shalika Karunaratne
Member - Executive Commitee - SLCB
Past Participant - Leaders Course
Posted by jicafriends at December 27, 2007 10:42 AM
Comments
Dear Shalika san,
Congratulations on your Council's proposal having been accepted and approved by the National Council of Person's with Disabilities, and I am particularly impressed that the special ID card for using many facilities will be put into practice. Could you let me know how your experience in Japan has contributed to the proposal, because I am going to introduce this good news with information of your report in the newsletter of my organization, JICE that I belong to as Training Officer for your course.
Posted by: Haruko Furuya (Ms.) at January 16, 2008 10:24 PM
Dear Furuya san,
I am sorry for not replying earlier. I just checked mail. During my training in Japan, I saw how PWDs made use of the facilities that the Japanese government provided them with. I was very impressed with the pension scheme, the compulsory employment scheme, the special rates for assistive devices in particular. Ueno san explained how each PWD is graded according to his disability by taking himself as an example - He showed how in a latest assessment he was shifted up a grade. He also told us that the government of Japan bore 90% of the cost of all his assistive devices such as his special cane and the adaptation to his car. I realised that the ID or Certificate of Disability is a way of identifying each PWD and his / her individual needs. For, it is according to the classification and grading that one receives the facilities. I thought that I too should take an effort to introduce this ID in our country. I understand that a developing country like ours cannot provide all the facilities that the Japanese government provides to its PWDs, but I am confident that at least some like subsidised rates for assistive devices, special rates for transport and entrance fees etc. can be implemented. In order to do this, the first step is to identify PWDs, classify and grade them and issue them an ID which they can produce to get these facilities. If there is no ID, these facilities will be misused by non-disabled persons. The ID will also give PWDs a sense of security and the right to exercise their rights.
Shalika
Posted by: Shalika at February 19, 2008 10:27 AM