Malé councillor proposes weekly home visits to support people with disabilities

A Malé City councillor has proposed that council members and representatives of the Women's Development Committee (WDC) visit households with people with disabilities once a week to assist with their care and provide respite for family members and caregivers.

The proposal was made by Hulhumalé North Councillor Fathimath Zahiyya (Zaya) during Wednesday's general meeting of Malé City Council, where members discussed difficulties in providing services to people with disabilities due to the lack of information available to the council.

The meeting considered the importance of collecting information about people with disabilities living in the city and establishing arrangements to improve access to services.

Speaking during the discussion, Zahiyya said she had witnessed the challenges faced by families and caregivers supporting people with different disabilities.

She said councillors, who had been elected to serve residents and address their concerns, should take a more active role in assisting these families.

Zahiyya proposed that each councillor, accompanied by WDC members and a support team, visit households with people with disabilities in their respective constituencies once a week.

She suggested that the visits could involve helping families with caregiving responsibilities and accompanying people with disabilities to parks and other public spaces.

Such arrangements, she said, would allow caregivers to take a break from their responsibilities.

"This would give the caregivers some rest. We are here to serve these people with compassion," Zahiyya said.

During the same meeting, Hulhumalé Central Councillor Ahmed Ghalib raised concerns about the lack of lifts in some social housing buildings in Hulhumalé, saying the situation was creating difficulties for residents with disabilities.

Ghalib said some housing units occupied by people with disabilities did not have lift access, making it difficult for residents to travel between floors.

He said the absence of lifts placed additional physical demands on residents and their caregivers, particularly when assistance was required to move people with disabilities downstairs.

According to Ghalib, efforts to install lifts had not progressed because the necessary cooperation had not been received from the Housing Development Corporation (HDC).

However, he said the council should continue working towards addressing the issue.

"We want to provide some relief to these people. Considering the technology available today, installing lifts is not something that cannot be done," Ghalib said.

He added that lifts would not necessarily be required in every apartment building, as not all buildings housed people with disabilities.

"We want to resolve this issue during the current council term," he said.

Ghalib also supported efforts to collect information about residents with disabilities, saying that having such data would help the council identify households requiring assistance and make arrangements to improve accessibility.

The discussions highlighted concerns about the availability of disability-related information, support for caregivers and accessibility in residential buildings across Malé City.