A welfare organization yesterday urged candidates running in the Nov. 27 five special municipality elections to put forward concrete policies and set aside budgets for the mentally challenged.
Taipei Life of Heart Association Director-General Chin Lin (金林) said the organization operates several projects contracted from the government and that without a long-term budget and concrete development plan, benefits for the mentally ill and the mentally challenged will be at risk.
“The voices of the mentally challenged are often overlooked by politicians,” said Liu Li-ju (劉麗茹), director-general of the Taipei County Mental Rehabilitation Association.
“I once asked a mayoral candidate about his plans for the mentally challenged when I attended his book signing party,” Liu said. “I was not at all surprised to receive no answer.”
According to Chin, the Department of Health will next year stop funding a home visit service, a mechanism that sends social workers to the homes of the mentally ill and the mentally challenged at regular intervals to provide regular consultation and assistance.
“We are afraid that the service will disappear for good if government officials keep on neglecting this issue,” Chin said, adding that about 90 percent of the mentally ill and the mentally challenged live in the community rather than in medical institutions and often need help with their daily lives.
The service has benefited people like “Mr Bright” (real name not revealed), a 40-year-old who has suffered from schizophrenia since the first year of high school.
“He used to shun people and lock himself away in his home,” said a social worker surnamed Liu Hsiao-yu (劉曉玉), who has been working with him for some time.
Since receiving the weekly visits, she said, he has learned to care for his family and his community.
Liu Hsiao-yu said that Mr Bright, who has an obsession with memorizing words in the dictionary, has developed English-to-Chinese translation skills, thanks largely to the encouragement of the social workers.
Chin urged voters to ensure that their chosen candidate supports the rights of the mentally ill and the mentally challenged before casting their votes.
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