"We are here today at the National Foundation for the Deaf for two reasons: the first is to congratulate the administration and the employees for the very important work that is being done, especially in the issues of early diagnosis and early intervention in the case of children who face significant hearing issues, so that they become fully functional when they reach the point of joining education," Prime Minister Kyriakos MItsotakis said on Monday during his visit to the National Foundation for the Deaf.

And he added that "the second reason is to announce that we are correcting a long-standing injustice to the detriment of our deaf fellow citizens, as the deafness allowance was given to children from 0-18 years old and then was given again to pensioners over 65. So we are here today to announce that this injustice belongs to the past. All deaf people will now receive the 391 euro allowance, regardless of their age. In this way, we aim to adopt policies that are truly fair, fully inclusive and to address each form of disability separately and distinctly, recognising its own particularities."

The Prime Minister pointed out that, after Easter, the government will be able to make some other announcements regarding the way in which deaf citizens receive information through public television, with subtitling actions, so that "with each passing day we can take a step towards a fairer, more inclusive society, one that will stop treating our fellow citizens with disabilities as second-class citizens, as children of a lesser god."

He said that "all these interventions can be implemented precisely because our economy and public finances are doing better and we have the fiscal space to be able to make corrections to such long-standing injustices, such as the one we are pleased to announce today."

On his part, the president of the Hellenic Federation of the Deaf Konstantinos Simpsis thanked Mitsotakis for taking their requests into account.
"Today is a very important day for us. A milestone day for the deaf community," said Simpsis and underlined: "We hope to slowly build a society that will be accessible and equal for all."