Life is full of precious moments we continue to cherish as we grow older and are eventually able to reminisce about them. One such special, emotion-clad moment occurred to me earlier this week at the Sonia Tanti Independent Living Centre (STILC) when I had the pleasure of being interviewed by 14-year-old Martina. But, one might rightly ask, what’s new about that in a minister’s often mundane everyday life?
You see, for the few years of her young life, Martina was unable to communicate. Now, suddenly and cheerfully, she is able to keep up a discussion on various topics – the positive impact of the work and dedication of the professional staff at the centre and the result of the incredible advance of assistive technology.
In harmony, they go a long way towards helping our children and early teenagers who need them to embellish their talents, gain their independence and pave their way for a happy and highly rewarding working life as an equal part of the community. The technological tools that are put at their disposal certainly facilitate their progression at such an important and transitory period of their lives.
When meeting Martina at the STILC, in Ħal Far, I have to admit I was overwhelmed as she spoke of her various interests, her pets and how, through the use of assistive technological devices, she can pursue her educational ambitions while freely communicating with her loved ones as well as her friends. If that magnificent scientific breakthrough is not crystallised into one special moment, what can, in a person’s life?
It is also yet another feather in the cap for Aġenzija Sapport’s unstinting efforts to further improve the facilities and equipment for its services at this centre, including a €65,000 investment in the past 12 months.
The road to complete social inclusion is an ongoing and multifaceted process- Julia Farrugia Portelli
Martina, in fact, makes use of the Access to Communication & Technology Unit (ACTU), run by the agency’s speech and language therapists as well as occupational therapists in their assessment of and support to children with complex communicative difficulties.
These services offer recommendations as to which systems and strategies best to employ for the acquisition of augmentative means of communication in the search of alternative solutions for people with physical and intellectual disabilities to achieve technological access and for a marked improvement in the assisted person’s ambience.
Though initially provided to children under the age of 16, this STILC service is now being gradually extended to adults with various serious disabilities by the granting of consultation appointments.
That is only a small part of the whole picture, however. The road to complete social inclusion is an ongoing and multifaceted process which involves other assessment procedures that ensure personal mobility, personalised wheelchair-use, driving by means of a simulator, professional recommendations on modifications to help customise a disabled person’s vehicle and also driving lessons on a modified car.
A vast and comprehensive schedule of services such as this requires the assistance and collaboration of other entities, among them the Allied Health Care Services within the Health Ministry, the UK company Ottobeck and the Adaptive Driving Motoring School. The services are also provided to victims of disability from accidents or chronic afflictions.
It is only fair to say STILC and its specialised professional services form part of a declared government policy, unfolding determinedly since 2013, on social protection and social inclusion that unwaveringly ensures nobody is ‘left behind’, whatever the circumstances.
Martina’s special moment and many others like it that occur at this centre of excellence are living proof of each and every person’s own natural endowments and his or her right to be an integral part of society.
Julia Farrugia Portelli, Minister for Inclusion and Social Well-being