Hasan Çatalbaş, the Istanbul Branch President of the Anatolian Association for the Uniting of the Disabled, spoke to the Milli Gazete. Çatalbaş, who made evaluations for our newspaper within the scope of the Disabled Week, expressed his expectations from the government and society. Çatalbaş said that one of the most important problems is income per person entering the house. Noting that people have become individualized in today's world, Çatalbaş said that they do not want the "Total income divided by number of people" formula to be applied and said, "The disabled person and the person who cares for the disabled should be taken as a basis."
“RELATIVES OF DISABLED SHOULD INCLUDED IN SGK”
Çatalbaş, the Istanbul Branch President of the Anatolian Association for the Uniting of the Disabled, noted that the disabled have many problems waiting to be solved. Çatalbaş said, “The people who take care of the severely disabled are generally women, and when the disabled person dies, they are left in the middle. Disability benefits, such as home care, are also cut. This is one of the biggest problems. Disabled relatives should be covered by Social Security Institution (SGK).”
“ENVIRONMENTAL CONDITIONS MUST BE DESIGNED ACCORDING TO THE DISABLED”
Hasan Çatalbaş, who stated that the disabled people also have difficulties in obtaining reports, said, “Individuals who were previously disabled at a rate of 40, 50, 60 percent are not considered disabled at the moment. There is a big problem here. Severe disability report is rarely given,” he said. Çatalbaş added, “The environmental conditions were not designed for the disabled. We also request that this situation be resolved.”
“LEGAL AND SOCIAL GROUND SHOULD BE ESTABLISHED”
Memur-Sen Confederation Commission for the Disabled drew attention to the problems of disabled public servants. Making statements at the press conference on the subject, Eşref Karaaslan noted that the problems faced by the disabled in public and social life should be resolved. In the press release held on the occasion of the December 3, International Day of Persons with Disabilities, the problems faced by the disabled in the public and the demands for solutions were listed.
WE HAVE SIGNED MANY WINNINGS THAT ARE THE FRUIT OF OUR WORK
Stating that they continue their work, since 2013, affiliated to the Memur-Sen Confederation Commission, President Eşref Karaaslan emphasized that due to the December 3 International Day of Persons with Disabilities, a legal and social ground should be established that will create social awareness and equality of opportunity in the political, economic, social and cultural life of the disabled. Stating that they are fighting for the rights of disabled employees working in the private and public sector, he said, “We have achieved many achievements that are the fruit of the efforts of our Memur-Sen Confederation, who has put the human-centered understanding of unionism at the center and has worked hard in recruiting more than 66 thousand permanent disabled civil servants in the public sector. To strive for our disabled people to lead a life worthy of human dignity, where they do not isolate themselves from society, but rather see them at the center of life; In this context, we will continue to voice the problems of the disabled on every platform and increase their gains.”
“A QUOTA SHOULD BE OPENED FOR DISABLED PEOPLE WAITING TO BE ASSIGNED TO THE PUBLIC”
“Although the number of disabled individuals taking part in important positions such as deputy ministers, directorates, and presidency is insufficient in numbers, it constitutes an important path today, in our country. However, we would like to add that there are many more steps to be taken in our country, where there are more than 10 million disabled citizens,” Karaaslan continued and underlined that they wanted justice, not privilege.
Karaaslan listed the demands of the disabled as follows:
“Additional payments to be increased by 20 points in assignments made over disabled staff.
Granting the right to work part-time for the daily and weekly working hours of our employees, who have disabilities in their family, if they wish.
Ensuring that educational opportunities are increased by creating an educational infrastructure according to the disability of the disabled person (sight, hearing, physical and mental, etc.) in educational institutions.
Increasing the degree of public servants with disabilities every 2 years, in addition to giving an additional degree every 5 years.
Calculation and payment of the pension amount and the retirement bonus to be granted to public servant who retire prematurely because of disability or disabled due to this reason, based on at least 25 years.
Providing more employment by opening quotas for thousands of our disabled citizens who are waiting to be appointed to the public sector.”