PARENTS OF children with special needs have protested that their offspring have nowhere to turn to after they graduate from special schools and enter adulthood.
According to what was heard at the House Human Rights Committee yesterday, Cyprus has very little to offer in terms of daycare centres for adults with disabilities – mental or physical, severe or mild – and their parents, who mostly have to work during the day, have no choice but to shut them up at home.
“These children, especially those with mental disabilities – big or small – have great problems in finding what to do after graduation,” said Committee Chairman, DIKO’s Sophocles Fyttis, after the meeting.
Once children facing these difficulties reach the age of 21 – the graduation age from special schools – they don’t have anywhere to go, said Fyttis.
“If it is mild disability – such as dyslexia, deafness or blindness – they can go on to university and pursue employment; but when the case is more severe they can’t and their parents don’t know where to leave them during the day when they have to work.”
The World Health Organisation (WHO) says that when people with special needs reach the age of 18, they must be assessed to see their abilities, the extent of their disabilities and their prospects for education and training.
President of the Pancyprian Federation of Associations of Parents of Children with Special Needs, Christos Avgoustinos said a complete day centre was currently being built in Peristerona, western Nicosia, with the support of all surrounding communities. He said the community leaders had been sensitised by a demonstration held by parents calling for more support for their children.
But he said there was a serious lack of funds, as well as substructure and manpower.
“We are concerned about what will happen to our children who are now adults and need a special place where they can be taken care of during the day,” said Avgoustinos. “With this special centre, we are trying to cover needs that so far haven’t been covered. We want to thank the local authorities of western Nicosia, which are doing their bit to get the centre up and running.”
Avgoustinos said the centre was hoping to care for 23 people – but only those with mental disabilities. As he explained, people with physical disabilities would demand special equipment and care, which would amount to around €6,000 per person a month.
“There is no bigger anxiety for a family than to know that there is nothing for after their child turns 21 and leaves school, and all the work and running around they did during their childhood, visiting doctors and trying to secure as safe a future as possible, was for nothing as suddenly their child is locked away at home,” said DISY’s Stella Kyriakidou. “The parents are terrified of getting old or dying because they don’t want to leave their children behind and fear they won’t be cared for.”
There is a little community with small housing units that hosts adults whose parents can no longer take care of them. But Kyriakidou said these were not enough to cover all the needs.
It is hard to know the exact needs as the state has so far had no register or statistics on Cypriots with special needs.
“Cyprus has no scientific archive to know how many children there are with disabilities and in which districts, so we can exactly assess the extent of the situation,” said Kyriakidou. “If we knew these figures, then plans could be made.”
EDEK’s Roulla Mavronicola said local communities had the good will to implement special programmes, but they lacked the financial means to assist their efforts.
“We feel the creation of a social integration service, which will lead to a register finally being prepared of the people who need this care, will see what needs there are and in which sectors, so the state can finally take up its role of a ‘social state’”, she said.
