President Bharrat Jagdeo has committed to providing financial assistance to a support group set up to help the hearing impaired.

According to a GINA press release, the President made the pledge as a contribution towards Deaf Awareness Week commencing today. He met members of the support group last Tuesday at the Office of the President.

The support group was born out of a project initiated in partnership with the National Deaf Children’s Society, local partners and the Guyana Community Based Rehabilitation Programme. The group was formed in 2005 and has successfully trained 63 persons in sign language, since it is the principal way of communicating with the hearing impaired.

According to GINA, Director of the group, Leon Walcott, explained that the group’s meeting with the President was to primarily discuss its activities and concerns for the deaf and the disability movement.          

The release said Walcott lauded the efforts of the government for taking the concerns of the disabled to the level of Parliament with the introduction of the Disability Bill through the National Commission on Disability.

“The President was very receptive and he has promised to take a number of initiatives that are aimed at  improving the inclusion of persons with disabilities in Guyana where social services-education, health and so on are concerned,” Walcott was quoted as saying. He added that the group has already made much progress working in partnership with a number of ministries including health, education and labour, human services and social security.