Government needs laws regulating handicapped-access for buildings, Shadow Seniors Minister Louise Jackson said yesterday.

While the Corporation of Hamilton was deemed ?a model? for handicapped access, Mrs. Jackson stated: ?There are no laws covering any new buildings or renovations for accessibility down at Planning.?

Disabled visitors are a potentially enormous market which the Island could be alienating, she pointed out, not to mention making access for disabled Bermudians that much easier. Statistics on disabled Bermudians and handicap access on the Island would be helpful in determining the extent of what needs to be done, she said.

She also called for the abolition of a $20 fee to refill prescriptions. Seniors and the disabled are two groups which regularly refill prescriptions, she noted ? a necessity which can become expensive with the extra fee.

One woman moved in with her aunt, who is disabled, to care for her shortly after Hurricane Fabian, Mrs. Jackson said.

The woman brought her two children to live with her aunt also. Though she went to Financial Assistance and was given a case worker, Mrs. Jackson said the woman had not heard from the case worker in about three months.

Now the family is being evicted from their house, and will have to leave in three weeks. ?Where is her aunt going to go, where is she going to go??

Health Minister Patrice Minors pointed out that the disabled aunt had been receiving Financial Assistance for the past three months. She also noted that, with her niece and niece?s children living with her, the aunt was violating her tenancy agreement, and that was why she was being evicted.

She also said Financial Assistance does provide up to $1,500 monthly per person towards home care for seniors, and added that day-care is also available at a lower cost than residential care.

However Mrs. Jackson was firm in her call for Government to do more for the disabled.