Disability evaluation leading to ‘mistakes’

Excessive focus on intelligence quotient and social skills tests is leading to “mistakes” in the disability classification, Macau Special Olympics director Hetzer Siu Yu Hong (back row 2nd R) said

The government should change the way it evaluates the level of impairment of people applying for the new disability allowance, the head of the Macau Special Olympics (MSO) said yesterday.
An excessive focus on intelligence quotient (IQ) and social skills testing is leading to “mistakes” in the medical classification of disabled people, Hetzer Siu Yu Hong told Macau Daily Times.
Last September the Social Welfare Bureau (IAS) began accepting applications for the new disability allowance and free health care services. “It’s a good thing and it shows that authorities are paying more attention to people with disability,” said Siu.
Applicants must go through a medical assessment process, after which their impairment can be categorised in six types – visual, hearing, speech, physical, intellectual and mental, and in four separate degrees – mild, moderate, severe and profound.
For people with signs of speech, intellectual or mental disability, the process usually involves IQ and social skills testing. But these tests “are not correct every time,” Siu warned.
“If we look at the experience from the US and Europe, they don’t carry out these tests just one time and make a definite decision there and then. People have to repeat the tests several times, usually every two years,” he explained.

Better balance

In addition, the MSO director stressed that the equipment and tools used to carry out the tests were bought in Taiwan. “Unlike what happens in Hong Kong, these tools are not from Macau and they were not adjusted,” he said.
In the end this process is leading to “mistakes,” Siu bemoaned. “Many parents believe their children have a severe disability but then he or she is not assessed as such. That’s a big shock for them,” he emphasised.
The new disability allowance aside, the medical classification is also important to ensure that children with special needs are able to receive special education, Siu said on the sidelines of the closing ceremony for an internship programme at electricity provider CEM for people with intellectual disability.
One of the eight young adults who completed the four-month internship was classified as having severe speech impairment and “low ability to work,” he revealed. CEM has decided to hire three of those trainees under a short-term contract, the company’s chief executive officer Franklin Willemyns said in his speech.
“There must be a better balance, with more information,” Siu stressed. “The final report must clearly say what were the reasons for that classification,” the activist added.

June deadline

Almost 9,500 people had already submitted an application for the new registration system, the IAS director Iong Kong Io said yesterday, according to Chinese-language TDM. The government was expecting to grant the new disability subsidy to 10,000 Macau permanent residents, totalling MOP 80 million annually.
People who are classified as having a mild or moderate level of disability will receive MOP 6,000 annually, while those suffering from severe or profound levels of disability will receive MOP 12,000. Beneficiaries will receive the allowance during the fourth quarter of each year.
Residents who applied before the end of last year could also receive retroactive payments for 2009 and 2010, which the authorities believe would amount to MOP 240 million.
About 3,000 people could get their disability allowance before the Chinese New Year, Iong said. The IAS expects to complete the medical assessment of all the applicants before June, he added.
The official also revealed that applications are open for a residential home for people with intellectual disabilities in the Fai Chi Kei public housing complex, which could open its doors during the first quarter of this year.
The 2012 Policy Address released in November includes financial support for three rehabilitation facilities for people with intellectual disability. The other two should be in operation next year, Iong said, as they will be located within public housing projects.
The government has pledged to complete 19,000 public housing units by the end of this year.