Constitutional amendment to protect people with disabilities from discrimination

The Constitution is being amended to guarantee protection from discrimination for persons with disabilities.

A bill to enshrine such protection in the Constitution started being debated in parliament on Tuesday.

Inclusion Minister Julia Farrugia recalled that over the past few years, legal reforms were made to enshrine rights and restore dignity to various minorities, particularly the LGBTIQ community. Everyone deserved equal respect, she said, and it was therefore a pity that the Constitution, Malta’s fundamental law, did not specify that no discrimination may be made on the basis of disability. 

The Constitution was therefore being amended to provide that disability would be included as a protected characteristic guaranteed protection from discrimination.

The definition of discrimination was that found in the UN Convention on Persons with Disabilities.

This amendment was needed, she said, so that discriminated persons may have easier access to the civil court in its constitutional jurisdiction for alleged discrimination, even by government agencies.

Nationalist MP Graziella Galea confirmed the Opposition’s backing for the bill. People with disabilities, she said, should enjoy the same freedoms and opportunities as everybody else. This was not some sort of favour, but a fundamental right.

The real challenge, she said, was not about getting this bill through parliament, but ensuring that people with disabilities really did not suffer discrimination.

Galea listed legislation enacted over the past years that improved the dignity of persons with disabilities, notably the Equal Opportunities Act for Persons with Disabilities. Questions remained over what was actually in the law was actually implemented, she said. 

Some companies, she complained, preferred to pay fines rather than employ a person with disabilities. 

The Nationalist MP also insisted that government services for persons with disabilities and those who supported them needed to be improved, opening their way for greater opportunities. 

Basic services, such as accessible pavements for people in wheelchairs, interpreters for those hard of hearing, and help for those needing educational support should be improved. People should not be made disabled through inadequate transport, failure to provide a lift, and similar circumstances, the Nationalist MP said.

The constitutional amendment should only be a beginning for real protection to people with disabilities, giving them equal opportunities like the rest of society, she said.