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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A Belgian man who tested positive for COVID-19 in Taiwan last week is likely to have contracted the disease in Taipei in late June, National Taiwan University (NTU) College of Public Health vice dean Tony Chen (陳秀熙) said yesterday. The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) on Saturday reported that the man, who is in his 20s, came to Taiwan for work on May 3 and tested positive on Wednesday last week as he was about to depart. The man in March reported loss of taste and smell, the center said, adding that he worked in Changhua County, but visited Taipei several times,
NEW ERA: Taiwan, which has controlled its virus outbreak, now faces the challenge of safely resuming economic exchanges with other nations, Chang Shan-chwen said People should not focus entirely on having zero new confirmed COVID-19 cases in Taiwan, but neglect overall control over the disease situation, Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) specialist advisory panel convener Chang Shan-chwen (張上淳) said yesterday. Chang made the remark at a forum in Taipei discussing the steps Taiwan should take in the post-pandemic era, organized by the Chinese-language magazine Global Views Monthly. Chang, Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Director-General Chou Jih-haw (周志浩), and Stanford University’s Center for Policy, Outcomes and Prevention director C. Jason Wang (王智弘) each made a presentation, followed by a panel discussion with Chang, Wang and Buddhist Tzu
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