One year after a long-standing injustice against our deaf and hard-of-hearing citizens was lifted, the result is clear: We have doubled the beneficiaries and ended their exclusion, said Social Cohesion and Family Minister Domna Michailidou.
As noted by the ministry, a clear decision was taken a year ago: to end an absurd exclusion. Thus, the deafness-deafness allowance was extended to all citizens with a disability rate of more than 67%, regardless of age. Included, for the first time, were our fellow citizens aged 18 to 65, who until then had been excluded without any justification. On the occasion of this completion, Domna Michaelidou made the following statement. A right and a demand that was not really heard by anyone. Because, thousands, as official figures show, of our fellow citizens with deafness or hearing loss and a disability of more than 67%, were not receiving the monthly deafness allowance of 391 euros between the ages of 18 and 65.”
As the minister pointed out, “on the initiative of the Prime Minister himself, the injustice was corrected and the allowance was extended to these ages. One year later, the typical beneficiaries of the allowance have doubled from 6,300 to 12,200 and the relevant expenditure has risen from 2,500,000 euros to 4,800,000 euros. An expenditure that is fully justified by the fixed need it met and which has already been fully justified as a political choice and decision.”
Finally, the Minister, referring to the importance of this regulation, noted that “with policies such as this, along with a network of others that combine to address persons with disabilities, but also to each of our fellow citizens who are entitled to a targeted or individualized intervention of the state due to their specialized needs, we are implementing in practice and proving that we mean in an absolute way the principle: we leave no one behind. No one alone.”
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