Kurdistan Region’s Disabled Demand More Aid, Facilities

[Aslan]

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Disabled citizens of Iraqi Kurdistan are demanding special living quarters fit for the handicapped, ramp or elevator access at public buildings and more government aid, the Kurdistan Disabled Group (KDG) said.

"We want to have a special residential compound for the disabled," said Dilshad Qadir Khoshnaw, president of KDG, whose members staged a two-month hunger strike in Sulaimani to press for their demands.

Authorities “must take into consideration the needs of the disabled citizens in public buildings. For example, special elevators and ramps must be built for them," he said.

Disabled or special-needs residents of Kurdistan face daily challenges trying to get inside public buildings or ride on public transportation, the KDG notes. It has asked authorities not to grant building permits for apartment blocks that do not meet the needs of disabled citizens.

By law in the Kurdistan Region, citizens with special needs or the disabled receive stipends between 160,000 and 250,000 Iraqi dinars ($137 to $214), but the KDG is asking that range to be more than doubled.

Abdulsalam Barwari, head of social and family affairs in the Kurdistan parliament, said that an increase was not possible because it was beyond the budget allocation.

"We do not want to treat the disabled as a segregated group from society; we want to treat them as normal people who can be given responsibilities in society. We do not want them to sit at home and wait for their stipends. We want them to become administers and employers," he said.

Barwari said that the Kurdistan Region was looking to implement a system practiced in other countries, of giving stipends that are equal to the minimum wage.

"But the stipends demanded by the disabled are higher than the minimum wage of an employee,” he said.

[Anthea]

I am in England:

We do not have a special residential compounds for the disabled

There are grants available to convert someone's property BUT it could take up to a year to obtain such a grant and anyone unlucky enough to have an accident and become confined to a wheelchair will be trapped in their home without help

We do have laws stating that all new building have to have disabled access, all older building have to do there best to provide some form of disable access.

Disabled people here do not receive as much as the minimum wage, I will have to check amount

We do have a severe problem in England with a lot of people claiming disabled benefit while being perfectly fit, healthy and working

Blind people have to wait years to obtain a seeing eye dog, these dogs are not provided by the government