Health, Women, Family, Social Affairs, and Disability Commission Holds Meeting to Discuss Bill on Sign Language Regulation and Elderly Care
The Health, Women, Family, Social Affairs, and Disability Commission convened a working session on Tuesday to continue examining the bill on regulating sign language for individuals with hearing impairments. The afternoon session was dedicated to hearing the initiators of the bill on elderly care.
During the morning session, commission members debated the various articles of the sign language bill in light of observations and suggestions gathered from previous sessions. Discussions centered on expanding the bill's scope to include individuals with total or partial loss of speech, which led to a revision of the bill's title and a clarification of the definition of individuals with disabilities affected by its provisions.
Precision of concepts was a key aspect of the interventions by lawmakers, who also praised several provisions of the text, including the emphasis on the state's duty to unify sign language at the national level to facilitate its integration into education, public services, and public spaces. Formulation remarks were also examined to improve the quality and readability of the text.
During the afternoon session, the commission heard from the authors of the legislative initiative on elderly care. They explained that the bill's objective is to establish a range of social and cultural benefits for the elderly, including reduced public transportation fares, advantages in tourist establishments, free access to museums and historical monuments, and priority access to public health structures. The bill also aims to allow the elderly to engage in remunerated activities while receiving their pension, with the goal of preserving their dignity and valuing their expertise and skills.
The debate focused on Article 5 of the bill, which lifts the ban on working after retirement age for pension recipients. Some lawmakers emphasized the need to repeal all laws that deprive the elderly of their right to work, citing comparable legislation that allows retirees to engage in salaried employment while receiving their pension. Others argued that existing laws do not prevent the elderly from using their experience and skills in areas such as management, training, or consulting, subject to certain conditions.
Several intervenants also advocated for the generalization of the bill's provisions to all elderly individuals, not just retirees. In closing the session, lawmakers highlighted the importance of the bill, which responds to the expectations of a wide range of citizens, and called on the commission to give it the necessary attention to adopt it as soon as possible.
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