‘People living with disabilities need us’

MEMBERS of the national advisory committee on disability (NACD) were given the opportunity to see for themselves how care-giving organisations dealt with people with disabilities.
The members visited the Morobe Special Education Resource Centre and the Morobe NOPS branch during its third meeting in Lae, Morobe, last Friday.
According to NACD chairman and Department for Community Development secretary Joseph Klapat,  the aim of the meeting was to gauge views of what disability organisations were doing in the provinces and to see how best the government could work in partnership with the organisations.
“The NACD is keen to learn what various organisations are doing in addressing disability issues in the country.
“We need to create an inclusive society where people with disabilities are able to fully participate in the social and economic development,” he said.
He said the NACD cannot sit back  and plan activities unless they went out and saw what was happening at the community level.
Klapat said some issues that were raised were of genuine concern and that the NACD will look into these issues.
“Funding is a major issue for many organisations that deal with people with disabilities.
“Therefore it is important that government works with these organisations to adequately address these concerns,” he said.
He said the government could not address all these issues on its own and needed the support of all stakeholders.
NACD played a key role in advising government on improving coordination and collaboration of disability agencies.