The decision of the Government and the Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare to pay for stays in day care centers for people with developmental disabilities is unacceptable and discriminatory, Željko Darmanović from the Preokret movement assessed.
"The decision determined the price of an hour spent in the day care center at 1,80 euros, of which users will pay five percent, or nine cents per hour. The decision refers to persons with developmental disabilities aged 27 or older. Those nine cents are taken from their disability benefits. So, they give in order to take from them," Darmanović said in a statement sent to the media.
He reminded that the right to personal disability allowance is one of the rights that belongs to the domain of basic material benefits from the social protection of the individual and cannot be the income by which a person with a disability is obliged to pay social services.
"It is not clear what changes in relation to the health condition of the person with disabilities, their families, after 27+. In fact, after those years, parents are exhausted by the daily struggle for the health of their children, it is a lifelong struggle that implies constant support from society," pointed out Darmanović.
A member of the Preokret movement said that the goal of the Day Center is based on the protection, promotion and improvement of the rights of children and youth with developmental disabilities and PWD, their socialization and integration into the community, training for independence in daily activities in accordance with preserved abilities, as well as improving quality lives of people with developmental disabilities and PWDs and their families.
"The state of Montenegro should enable the standards of developed countries regarding the rights of persons with disabilities and their families, we are signatories of many declarations on the rights of the child that we are obliged to respect.
The government and the Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare should cancel this decision and thereby enable equal status for people with disabilities, regardless of their age," concluded Darmanović.
Bonus video:
