Disability Services Directory launched
Today, the “Directory for the People with disabilities” was launched at Ministry of Health and Family by Minister Dr. Aminath Jameel. This directory consisted of service providers and their contact information. The directory, which was earlier funded by Handicap International, was later developed by Wataniya under its Corporate Social Responsibility fund.
Handicap International(HI), back in Jan 2009 had an idea to produce a “Yellow Pages” listing services as a directory(website) available for people with disabilities. HI stated that the primary audience would be people with disabilities, their family members and service providers. The Yellow pages/directory was to include all services in the health, education, social services, sports and NGO’s etc. for the whole Maldives. They also wanted a printed version (Disability Resource Handbook) which can be easily synchronized with the website and perhaps a localized version for Dhivehi visitors.
The main Aim of the “Disability Resource Handbook” and “website” was; the handbook would include listing of information for all available services in the Maldives, to enable people with disabilities and their families to access the services, and to improve the ability of providers to refer people appropriately to other necessary services. That would allow people with disabilities and their families to better understand which service providers are responsible for which services, how to access them, and empower them to demand improvements and enhancements from the appropriate providers.
But, I honestly do not think that aim can be achieved with this directory which launched today. The “Directory for the People with disabilities” can only be searched for a specific contact details for specific “customers” and not their Services.
Ps: Mentioning the Ministry on its banner could be useful too.
Link to the “Directory for the People with disabilities” http://www.health.gov.mv/disability/
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