Dear All, I hope that all of you is keeping fine.
On my side, I am pleased to inform you that I have been nominated as the President of DIS-MOI which is a regional NGO based in Mauritius having as objective tomilitate for the promotion and protection of human rights in Mauritius and the other islands of the South West Indian Ocean. Together with my friend Rajen Coopan I preside the Commission on Disability Rights. I have also been nominated as the Secretary of theWomen with Disabilities which association works under the aegis of the Ministry of Social Security. I am seeking your precious advice on a very sensible matter which is as follows: In first place, to set the background of the case there is a need to expose the involved institutions: 1. Lois Lagesse Trust Fund (herein after referred to as the LLTF) is the institute for the blind having been set up under the Lois Lagesse Trust Fund act 1983 2. Training and Employment of Disabled Persons Board Act (herein after referred to as the TEDPB) is the institution responsible for the training and employment of persons with disabilities has been set up under the Training and Employment of Disabled Persons Amendment Act 2012 3. The Equal Opportunities Commission (herein after referred to as the EOC) has been set up under the Equal Opportunities Act 2012 Here is the gist of the vcase: Mrs. Desiree Cheng is a late blind lady of 51 years old. She is blind with one eye and sees at 20% with the other eye. She is of low vision since the age of 42 years old out of retinal detachment. She has been employed on a contract term of 1 year in August 2012 by the LLTF. Her contract of employment terminated in August 2013. She has been informed via a letter dated september 2013, that her Contract of Employment will be renewed on a month to month basis. She has been since then working on a month to month basis contract. Mrs. Desiree Cheng has beenprovided with transport facility by the LLTF to attend work everyday since her employment at the LLTF. The transport taking the visually impaired children at the specialised pre-primary and primary schools found at the premises of the LLTF passing in front of her residence picked her up in the morning and fetched her back every afternoon. Since 20th January 2014, Mrs. Desiree Cheng has stopped being provided with the transport facility by the LLTF without prior notice. It is to be noted that Mrs. Desiree Cheng has not recieved the required training of Orientation and Mobility as a visually impaired to allow her to acquire personal mobility so as to travel independently by public transport. The service of Orientation and Mobility is no more being provided by the LLTF since like 10 years as the LLTF claims of not having any trained and certified Orientation and Mobility Instructor. The LLTF has a Board of Directors whose Chairperson, Deputy Chairperson and other members are nominated by the Minister of Social Security. The actual Board of Directors of the LLTF is in place since November 2011 and its Chairman and Deputy Chairman are both visually impaired. The position of the LLTF is that Mrs. Desiree Cheng has to attend work through her own means, that is,by public transport. It should be mentioned that Mauritius as a State Party to the UNCRPD has put a reserve on Article 9(2) when signing and ratifying the UNCRPD. Article 9(2) stipulates that Braille and Sign Language has to be put in place on public infrastructure to make it accessible to the blind and hearing impaired. In its report dated 2012 to the United Nation on the implementation of the UNCRPD; Mauritius gave as reason to maintain the reserve on Article 9(2) that it is a lack of financial means. Therefore, the Government of Mauritius claims of not having enough financial means to implement Article 9(2) of the UNCRPD. The community of persons with disabilities of Mauritius is therefore left with an inaccessible public infrastructure. Mrs. Desiree Cheng wrote to the Minister of Social Security and other stakeholders informing them of the difficult situation she is facing. She received her January andFebruary ssalry though she is no more attending office. The issue of the LLTF not providing the blind community with the required training ofOreintation and Mobility as recommended under the UNCRPD has been reported in an article published in a local newspaper. The Board of Directors of the LLTF claims of having taken a decision on the matter but up to now the decision of the LLTF Board has not yet been communicated to Mrs. Desiree Cheng. The LLTF operates a specialised school for visually impaired children in the north of the island. The Braille teacher who is blind working in this specialised school is being provided with transport facility to attend work everyday by the LLTF. The point raised here relies on article 5 of the UNCRPD which stipulates that persons with disabilities are entitled to the same service. Also, how can the LLTF expect and insists on Mrs. Desiree Cheng to attend work by travelling by public transport when no training of orientation and mobility has been provided to her? The actions taken by Mrs. Desiree Cheng are as follows: 1. Addressed a letter to the Training and Employment of Disabled Persons Board requesting the said institution to enquire in the matter; 2. Lodged a plaint at the Labour Office; and 3. Lodged a plaint at the Equal Opportunities Commission. The TEDPB has not yet riverted back to Mrs. Desiree Cheng. The LLTF has been convened at the Labour Office and Mrs. Desiree Cheng has been heard by the EqualOpprotunities Commission. It has to be taken into account that the Chairman of the LLTF is Adviser to the UNCRPD at the Ministry of Social Security appointed by the Minister. The conflict of interest is here noted as the Chairman of the LLTF in his capacity of Adviser to the UNCRPD is the same person who advises on this matter in which he is directly involved. At the level of the Labour Office, it has been claimed by the LLTF that the collective agreement signed between the Trade Union representing the employees and the LLTF mentions that every employee of the LLTF has to attend work by means of public transport. It has been noted by the Labour Office that the Collective Agreement does not mention that the employees of the LLTF consists of blind and visually impaired employees as well as of abled body employees. The Collective Agreement has been noted to have been wrongly drafted and is illegal. The Trade Union of the Employees of the LLTF did not consider the special needs of the rights of the blind and visually impaired employees of the LLTF. All the above having been said: may you please kindly advise on the matter as Mrs. Desiree Cheng is being morally affected of being constrained to stay at home. Sincerely, Aarthi Burtony Register at the dedicated AccessIndia list for discussing accessibility of mobile phones / Tabs on: http://mail.accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/mobile.accessindia_accessindia.org.in Search for old postings at: http://www.mail-archive.com/accessindia@accessindia.org.in/ To unsubscribe send a message to accessindia-requ...@accessindia.org.in with the subject unsubscribe. To change your subscription to digest mode or make any other changes, please visit the list home page at http://accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/accessindia_accessindia.org.in Disclaimer: 1. Contents of the mails, factual, or otherwise, reflect the thinking of the person sending the mail and AI in no way relates itself to its veracity; 2. AI cannot be held liable for any commission/omission based on the mails sent through this mailing list..
