Low response to survey disappoints DDC
By MARIAN A. MARAYA
Staff Reporter
The Governor’s Developmental Disabilities Council unveiled yesterday results of a CNMI-wide survey intended to gather community perceptions on existing policies that hamper the full inclusion of individuals with disabilities in everyday community endeavors.
DD Council Executive Director Thomas J. Camacho expressed disappointment over the minimal participation exercised by various agencies, reporting that out of 119 entities surveyed, only 25 organizations completed and returned the survey questionnaires to the council.
“The turn out rate was very low,” said Mr. Camacho.
Despite the dismal number of survey returns, Mr. Camacho said the council was able to acquire substantial responses from the agencies that participated.
“The outcome of the responses gave us a lot of good in-depth information about what truly are the barriers in the community that prevent people with disabilities from accessing public facilities and taking part in community affairs,” Mr. Camacho said.
The survey was conducted on government and community organizations on Saipan, Tinian, and Rota in efforts to seek input and recommendations on how best to remove policy barriers that limit the activities of individuals with disabilities.
The questionnaire, according to a freshly compiled material dubbed as the “Existing Policy Barriers to Full Inclusion: Results of an Opinion Research Questionnaire,” featured 102 questions in eight separate topics to include community support, employment, health care, housing, self determination, education, and other optional comments.
According to Mr. Camacho, some common themes were raised by respondents, citing funding woes as the most popular issue.
“Everybody agreed that we lack local funding to support services for people with developmental disabilities. There is local funding available that supports programs for individuals with disabilities but still, the bulk of the funding comes from the federal government,” Mr. Camacho explained.
The DD council chief then expressed support to the respondents’ proposal to create more policies that would ensure more local funding is in place.
Another popular recommendation has called for each CNMI organization to establish a written policy on developmental disabilities.
DDC’s newly-completed research project was conducted during February and March this year.
