A pilot project that offers two-hours-per-day support services to help people with disabilities lead independent lives is extremely unreasonable, the Independent Living Association Taipei said yesterday at a march demanding the attention of the Ministry of Health and Welfare.
The protest march, which was joined by dozens of groups advocating independent living for people with disabilities, ended at the ministry building and was followed by a sit-in on the premises.
Before embarking on the march, the groups enacted a sarcastic skit to show the absurdity of the government project which proclaims to help people with disabilities “obtain independence.”
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
In the skit, the “personal assistant,” who according to the project is to provide 60 hours of support services per month to persons with severe disabilities and 30 hours per month to those with moderate disabilities, rushed his services, with the narrator hurrying him along in order to “save national resources.”
The support service pilot project was initiated last year after the People with Disabilities Rights Protection Act (身心障礙者權益保障法), which had cleared the legislature in 2011, was amended to include support services for independent living as a type of home service, to be provided by the competent authority. The project has been providing a “personal assistant” service that aims to assist people with disabilities to achieve independent living and broaden their social participation in their communities.
“However, [the project] overlooks each disabled person’s individual needs and neglects the voice of users of the service, resulting in providing unrealistic services that fail to meet users’ needs and only serves the government’s control of resources,” the association said in a statement.
Independent Living Association Taipei secretary-general Lin Chun-chieh (林君潔) said the cap on the service hours “has resulted in local authorities’ reluctance to provide further assistance and services to people who need them.”
“The service should be provided according to each person’s needs,” she added.
The association also faulted the government for paying personal assistants — who perform heavy and exhausting work — an hourly wage of NT$120, “which is much lower than the NT$180 that in-home caregivers get and the NT$150 paid to temporary babysitters.”
Liu Che-chang (劉哲彰), a board member of the association, said that people with moderate or severe disabilities staying in institutions are “trapped,” sometimes force-fed and confined to their beds for long periods of time.
“Their lives can be likened to those of domestic animals,” Liu said.
Many of the institutionalized are hoping to leave the institutions and to be supported by independent living services, the association said, adding that the government should invite people with disabilities to help design the project in order to come up with a bottom-up, rather than the present top-down, approach to the development of tailor-made support services.
A magnitude 6.4 earthquake struck off the coast of Hualien County in eastern Taiwan at 7pm yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The epicenter of the temblor was at sea, about 69.9km south of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 30.9km, it said. There were no immediate reports of damage resulting from the quake. The earthquake’s intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was highest in Taitung County’s Changbin Township (長濱), where it measured 5 on Taiwan’s seven-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 4 in Hualien, Nantou, Chiayi, Yunlin, Changhua and Miaoli counties, as well as
Taiwan is to have nine extended holidays next year, led by a nine-day Lunar New Year break, the Cabinet announced yesterday. The nine-day Lunar New Year holiday next year matches the length of this year’s holiday, which featured six extended holidays. The increase in extended holidays is due to the Act on the Implementation of Commemorative and Festival Holidays (紀念日及節日實施條例), which was passed early last month with support from the opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party. Under the new act, the day before Lunar New Year’s Eve is also a national holiday, and Labor Day would no longer be limited
COMMITMENTS: The company had a relatively low renewable ratio at 56 percent and did not have any goal to achieve 100 percent renewable energy, the report said Pegatron Corp ranked the lowest among five major final assembly suppliers in progressing toward Apple Inc’s commitment to be 100 percent carbon neutral by 2030, a Greenpeace East Asia report said yesterday. While Apple has set the goal of using 100 percent renewable energy across its entire business, supply chain and product lifecycle by 2030, carbon emissions from electronics manufacturing are rising globally due to increased energy consumption, it said. Given that carbon emissions from its supply chain accounted for more than half of its total emissions last year, Greenpeace East Asia evaluated the green transition performance of Apple’s five largest final
Taiwan is to extend its visa-waiver program for Philippine passport holders for another year, starting on Aug. 1, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said on Friday. Lin made the announcement during a reception in Taipei marking the 127th anniversary of Philippine independence and the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the Manila Economic and Cultural Office (MECO) in Taiwan, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. The decision reflected Taiwan’s commitment to deepening exchanges with the Philippines, the statement cited Lin as saying, adding that it was a key partner under the New Southbound Policy launched in 2016. Lin also expressed hope
RSS