The Disabled Persons Federation held a morning conference entitled ‘Job Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities’ at the Santa Marta Day Centre in Victoria. Over the past few months the centre has been offering services to adults in Gozo who have a disability.

The conference opened with a speech for the occasion by the Minister for Gozo, Giovanna Debono, who said that although there had been much progress in the field of disability, a lot more still remained to be done, especially regarding the inclusion of disabled people in the work area . She pointed out the initiatives that had been made by the Ministry for Gozo to aid this field over recent years. The inauguration of the Santa Marta Centre, made few months ago, was the last link in a chain of initiatives that continued to improve and enhance the services offered to people with disabilities and their families in Gozo. The Minister also praised the Federation for their tirelless work carried out for those persons with special needs.

Among those who spoke during the seminar was Ms Mary Rose Attard, Coordinator for Persons with Disabilities in Gozo, Mr Jonathan Debono, the Assistant Coordinator for Persons with Disabilities gave a presentation about the work place and disabled people on Gozo, as well as Joe Camilleri, chairperson of the National Commission of Persons with Disability (NCPD), who made the closing speech of the conference.

Further education was also discussed at the conference along with job opportunities for disabled people. Those who gave their input in these discussions included amongst others, Dr. Kevin Cutajar, President of the Disabled Persons Federation. A number of Gozitan stakeholders as well as parents of disabled children, teachers and guidance counselors in schools, also contributed to the discussions during the morning.