XN000022-1995-10-13 — Page 4

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Right. Now it's over to you. Let's start with a show of hands. We'll first of all start down here and then there is a gentleman over here, in a blazer and a red tie. Do you want to come down to No. 2. Yes, yes. And the gentleman in the striped shirt there, near No.4. Yes, you, you, you, yes. If you come down to No. 4. And then there's a gentleman in a white short-sleeved shirt, near 3. If you go up to No. 3. Yes, you, you, you, yes. OK But first of all here.

Question (in Chinese): Mr Patten, I'd like to thank you for showing your concern for the disabled over the past few years. You have helped us to solve our transportation problems, employment and tax problems. I think now is the time for you to help us to help ourselves. For the physically disabled for example, if we had to help ourselves, education is of paramount importance. I don't know if you're aware of this, a lot of the primary and secondary schools in Hong Kong are not adapted to wheelchair disabled or other disabled. There's only, probably, one such district school that accommodates to us. The rest of us have to go to special schools. This is not ideal in any way. A lot of the times they don't have any choice, they have to go to a particular school which might be in a band four or a band five. I hope you can help them in this respect.

Secondly, for adult physically disabled people, I wonder if you are aware of this as well. There are hundreds of us who are actually mobile but because of accidents at work or otherwise, they are wheelchair bound. Is there any way, Mr Patten, for you to create a resource centre for all these people to come together to encourage each other to solve each other's problems? Governor Patten, I know last year the Government has allocated funds for five ex-mentally ill patients or their parents to establish a resource centre. This year you have committed eight resource centres for the chronically ill. I wonder if you could allocate a certain amount of funds for organisations dealing with the physically disabled to set up similar resource centres, so that they are able to help themselves. I think you've already given a lot of fish to the disabled, so to speak. Can't you give us some cod liver oil so that they can go and fish those fish themselves?

Thank you.

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