We need to a policy on adults with special needs

DISY Deputy Stella Kyriakidou yesterday called for a national strategic policy for adults with special needs.

Speaking after the House Human Rights Committee, which discussed the problems faced at the Margarita Liasides Institute in Paphos, Kyriakidou said the state had an obligation to ensure adults with special needs were well cared for.

“We have a duty to care for these people from the moment they are born until the day they die.

A problem we have spotted in all districts is when these people reach adulthood and are deinstitutionalised, they live at home in isolation with their parents worrying what is going to happen to their children when they die,” said Kyriakidou. “Some parents reach the point where they guiltily admit that they sometimes wish their child would die before them, so they wouldn’t have to worry.”

The DISY deputy said it was time the state concentrated on adults with special needs, especially in view of the forthcoming Radiomarathon.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.