In Malta, newly appointed Commissioner for Disability Samantha Pace Gasan is sending out a clear message: people with disabilities deserve work too.
Pace Gasan, 27, identifies as a person with a visual disability, having lost sight in one eye last year after a stroke following heart surgery. Due to this, she is now even more vocal about the need for people with disabilities to be included in the workforce.
“We cannot have a cycle where people with a disability repeatedly involve themselves in programmes and projects but never find work. That is something that many people have already asked of me: help me find a job for my son. We have to change this,” Pace Gasan said.
She believes workplaces can successfully employ people with disabilities if they become more receptive to change.
Although altering the way things are done may take some extra effort, Pace Gasan says it is not impossible.
“Let’s take a cafeteria, for instance. Let’s try to find ways to use assistive technology so that a person with disability can still take orders,” she said.
Although adaptations can be expensive, Pace Gasan thinks that modifications could lead to more inventive ways of doing things — a move that would benefit all employees. “Diversity brings a new perspective to things,” she said.
Everyone worldwide has been forced to change and modify the way they work due to the COVID-19 pandemic, making this the perfect time to continue adapting to bring people with disabilities into the workplace.
Pace Gasan has a sister with Down’s Syndrome, so disability issues have always been a part of her life. Despite believing she knew more than most about disability issues, she discovered she had actually been “internalizing my thoughts about disability.” Pace Gasan admited that it was only after becoming disabled herself last year that she truly became aware of the challenges that many disabled people encounter on a daily basis.
