We need to build public awareness - first meeting of the National Consultative Council behind us
13.03.2024
It pained me a lot that in recent years the social dialogue was practically non-existent. We have experts among our citizens, there are so many wise voices in the public space, and politicians were approving plans in secret, overnight, against the people. I believe that those times are a thing of the past, said Łukasz Krasoń, Secretary of State at the Ministry of Family, Labour and Social Policy, Government Plenipotentiary for Persons with Disabilities, when opening the first meeting of the National Consultative Council after the parliamentary elections.
First actions
During the meeting of the National Consultative Council, the Government Plenipotentiary Łukasz Krasoń presented the plan of ongoing work and activities, and the members of the NCC approved positions on the civic project to amend the Social Pensions Act and on the presidential project on personal assistance for persons with disabilities. The situation of NGOs and the challenges of employers towards the employment of persons with disabilities were also issues raised at the meeting.
Łukasz Krasoń pointed out the important element of public communication in addressing the problems of persons with disabilities.
I am planning to put a very strong emphasis on social campaigns. We need to build public awareness. It will be very difficult to carry out such extensive system changes as assisted living, assisted housing, if we do not invite people 'without disabilities' to the discussion, because it is also in their interest. This is an investment in the future for all of us. Today, someone may not be disabled, but we never know what the case in the future will be. Especially because age, obviously, often poses many challenges to our fitness.
‘I want us to see us as partners’
Łukasz Krasoń addressed the members of the National Consultative Council.
I want to see us as partners. I don't want to come to you because it follows from the law, but I want it to be an equal partnership, because only together can we get through these twists and turns. I want us to be able to argue here, to disagree in order to work out solutions. I also want us to show that we are able to talk about difficult topics and learn from our sometimes very different positions.
Adjudication is an element written into the coalition agreement and I am very happy that this is not just empty talk but real investment. We will have PLN 500 million from the EU for this, so that we can create a new system of adjudication, to ensure that we don't have different adjudication in different places in the country. The role of the state is not just to stick a sticker and put it inside the drawer, but to give a hand, diagnose and help people to develop. I would like people with disabilities to know what opportunities are open to them – for example, what the State Fund for the Rehabilitation of the Disabled (PFRON) can offer, added Łukasz Krasoń.