The Pancyprian Organisation of the Blind has condemned Cyprus’s proposed disability legislation as a “massive fiasco,” warning that thousands of people with severe disabilities will be left behind.
In a statement, the organisation said the bill fails to increase any existing disability benefits, allowances or provisions, while existing legislation covering services and entitlements is being scrapped or downgraded.
The organisation said the bill was drawn up behind closed doors through what it called “entirely undemocratic processes,” and accused the government of propagandising its concern for disabled citizens while granting the competent authority such broad discretionary powers that it would act against their interests.
Among its specific objections, the organisation warned that the bill creates a two-tier system by automatically transferring all disabled persons to the new framework, whilst allowing a three-month window to apply to return to the old benefits regime — leaving people stranded between the two systems.
Those who transfer will lose access to protections under the old regime, whilst those who opt out will be excluded from new provisions such as the personal work assistant scheme.
The organisation also criticised a provision capping eligibility for several benefits at age 65, calling it age discrimination. The organisation said that under the bill, “a disabled person’s 65th birthday will not be a celebration but will instead resemble the funeral of their rights.”
It further condemned a clause stipulating that benefit payments will be calculated from the date an application is assessed rather than the date it is submitted, describing this as illegal and unlike any provision found elsewhere in Europe.
The organisation said the measure would effectively legitimise the state’s own delays in processing applications.
The Pancyprian Organisation of the Blind called on the government to guarantee in law the right of disabled persons to independent living, full community participation, and accessible information — without discrimination or policies it described as a throwback to the 1960s and 1970s.