for People with Special Needs, it has proved extremely difficult to implement these policies.
Families enter into an agreement with the Government which clearly states that the families
will take the patients home when discharged and they understand that legal action will be taken
against them if they violate the provision. Since the rights of several persons to get adequate
residential care is being violated because of the disregard of certain families, this matter needs to
be brought to the attention of the Attorney General and the courts.
For the last ten years, none of the staff at the Home for People with Special Needs were
given training opportunities. The staff expressed that they were not able to provide the kind
of care required by the beneficiaries simply because they do not know how to provide the care.
The poor attention given in the past to staff development at the Home for People with Special
Needs is evident from the meagre resources allocated for training. In the 2008 budget US$
2,543 (Rf32,680) was allocated for the staff development of an institution with 120 staff. The
total budget allocated for training was less than US$ 21 per staff per year.
9.6 Lack of employment services
The most obvious gap in services provided to persons with disabilities is lack of employment services. There is no evidence of any government organised support or services to persons
in Haa Alifu and Haa Dhaalu atolls showed that 71percent of working age men with disabilities
and 93 percent of working-age women with disabilities were not in work (Campion 2008).
The challenges around employment include discrimination in the labour market and
workplace and low expectations and assumptions about what persons with disabilities can
and cannot do. For example, employers often say the workplace is not a safe environment for
persons with disabilities. This means people with valuable skills and strong motivation can
struggle to participate as fully as they are able to. Finding quality work that pays a decent wage
is extremely difficult for persons with disabilities. When people have temporary disabilities and
are unable to work full-time, finding meaningful part-time or voluntary activities is also a challenge for them. In the Maldives, there is a need to challenge assumptions about what persons
with disabilities can and cannot do. Positive discrimination needs to be introduced to enable
both full-time and part-time jobs for persons with disabilities. Employers should be required to
provide on the job training to fill the gaps in education of workers with disabilities.
ACTIVITIES ADDRESSING RIGHTS OF PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES
with disabilities in obtaining jobs. The survey of Situation of People with Disabilities conducted
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