Freetown — Leonard Cheshire Disability (LCD), a leading institution that caters for the welfare of persons with disabilities in the country and other stakeholders on Wednesday reviewed the draft of the social protection policy document to identify loopholes at the LCD West Africa regional office on the Old Railway Line.

LCD Communications, Campaign and Fund Raising Manager, Teddy A. Morlai

Speaking to this press after the review exercise, the LCD Communications, Campaign and Fund Raising Manager, Teddy A. Morlai thanked various stakeholders such as the 'Young Voices' and the Sierra Leone Union for Disability Issues (SLUDI) representatives for reviewing the draft policy document on social protection in the country now before Parliament.

According to Morlai, the Wednesdays' meeting was preceded by the first meeting in which representatives of the Ministry of Labour and Social Security and the National Social Security and Insurance Trust (NASSIT) participated, where the LCD was informed about a prepared policy document on social security in the country that has already been submitted to Parliament for ratification into law.

Morlai noted that they insisted on the need for the policy to be reviewed by them to ensure that it addresses issues relating to persons with disabilities, before it can be ratified as an Act of Parliament which is why the document was being reviewed to identify loopholes for incorporation into the policy.

During the round table discussions, participants expressed the need to categorize all forms of disabilities such as physically challenged, mentally retarded, the blind and the deaf etc under the umbrella term: "people with disability (PWD)" in view of negative connotations attached to the term such as disabled, physically challenged etc.

The objective of the policy is to ensure that disability persons, vulnerable groups and the poor access benefits that ensure income security and social protection. It was observed that the document was prepared after extensive nationwide consultations at grassroots, district and community level. The policy document review defined important terms, adding that there should be an environmental adaptation of infrastructures to meet the needs of PWDs, a group that include the blind, people on wheelchair, physically challenged, deaf etc.

Delivering a statement, an official of NASSIT stated that as a social welfare institution, NASSIT is presently working on a scheme at Grafton to empower people with disabilities such as the amputees by providing for them tools to enable them earn a decent living. According to the NASSIT official, at Grafton people who were tailors before they got amputated are being given sewing-machines, and those who were selling cooked food are given cooking utensils, while other forms of disabilities are also being considered.

He added that in the perspectives of NASSIT, social security is for all including the PWDs and lots of others in the portfolios for all. "NASSIT is also planning to set up funds for the unemployed in the country," he concluded.