Family care needed: Official

By Amelia Numa
PEOPLE with disabilities need to be cared for by their families and not in an institution because it is against human rights, an official says.
Cheshire disability Services PNG general manager Benard Ayieko said this during a visit to a client’s home in Goldie, Central, as part of the organisation’s outreach and awareness programme.
He encouraged the family of David Andrew, 26, from Gulf, who has a physical disability and is wheelchair-bound to take care of him because that was the right thing to do.
“We will support where we can, of course, with support from sponsors and partners through the community-based rehabilitation and young voice programme,” Ayieko said.
He said the organisation, since 2010, had done away with the concept of having homes for people with special needs because it restricted them from exercising some of their rights freely.
“The concept having home limits for persons with disabilities (PWDs) rights of courtship and marriage, to have their own family,” he said.
“The 17 residents at cheshire are of age.
“They were brought to cheshire from different parts of the country when they were very young by the St Johns Brothers who was running the home.
“Most of them are now young men and women who want to get married, to feel loved and to start their own family but they cannot exercise these rights at cheshire because it is an institution with policies.”
The organisation donated a wheelchair, bed linens, mattress, clothes and food items to Andrew for his up-keep through support from programme partners and well-wishers.