Representatives of Sri Lanka’s disabled community met with Presidential Secretary Dr. Nandika Sanath Kumanayake yesterday (16) at the Presidential Secretariat and presented a set of budget proposals prepared jointly by the Parliamentary Caucus for Persons with Disabilities and disability civil society organisations
The proposals focus on six priority sectors aimed at improving the rights, inclusion and quality of life of persons with disabilities.
During the meeting, representatives of the disabled community expressed their appreciation to President Anura Kumara Dissanayake and the government for allocating substantial funding in the current budget to support persons with disabilities, including provisions to improve accessibility across the country.
Chairman of the Parliamentary Caucus for Persons with Disabilities, MP Sugath Wasantha de Silva, said empowering persons with disabilities by creating equal opportunities is essential to ensuring they become active and equal members of society.
He noted that the government’s “Leave No One Behind” national policy framework has been developed with this objective in mind and that the proposed budget measures have been aligned with that policy.
The discussion also focused on expanding opportunities for persons with disabilities in the tourism sector by improving accessibility and encouraging greater participation in the industry.
Participants highlighted that existing vocational training programmes designed for persons with disabilities often fail to create meaningful opportunities in the open labour market, stressing the need for more employment-oriented training initiatives.
Addressing the meeting, Presidential Secretary Dr. Nandika Sanath Kumanayake said the government has already taken several policy decisions to ensure persons with disabilities are fully integrated as equal members of society.
He added that the necessary circulars and administrative directives would be issued promptly while measures would also be taken to improve infrastructure and accessibility to support the implementation of these policies.
Senior Additional Secretary to the President Kapila Janaka Bandara, members of the Parliamentary Caucus for Persons with Disabilities, representatives of disability organizations and civil society representatives also attended the meeting.
