Rights groups yesterday rallied in front of the Legislative Yuan in Taipei, urging the government to issue a monthly subsidy of NT$10,000 to each person with a disability so that they could maintain a normal life amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The 1.18 million people with disabilities are among the most disadvantaged groups in Taiwan, but are also the most ignored,” said Cheng Long-shui (鄭龍水), a blind rights advocate who was a New Party legislator from 1996 to 2002.
Cheng, convener of the Save the Disabled and Disadvantaged in Taiwan Action Coalition, led nearly 50 people with disabilities in the rally.
Photo: Chu Pei-hsiung, Taipei Times
People with disabilities have been among the worst affected by the pandemic and are in desperate need of the government’s support, he said, before getting on his knees in the directions of the Presidential Office Building, the Executive Yuan and the legislature.
While the government has instituted relief policies, people with disabilities do not meet their requirements, said Chinese Culture University Department of Political Science professor Lin Chung-shan (林忠山), who hosted the rally.
The coalition is making the simple request of monthly cash handouts of NT$10,000 per person with disabilities for six months to help them weather the difficult time, Lin said.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus whip Lin Wei-chou (林為洲), who attended the protest along with other lawmakers from the KMT and the Democratic Progressive Party, said that he hoped the government would dedicate part of approved relief budgets to people with disabilities.
When the jobs of people with disabilities are affected, their family’s lives would also be affected, Lin said, adding that the demographic should be prioritized in the relief schemes.
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