Eight in 10 disabled people in Greece are unemployed while the rest scrape by on low incomes, advocates for the handicapped said yesterday on the occasion of International Day of Disabled Persons.

Organizations representing disabled people said that physically challenged Greeks remain marginalized because they are excluded from education, public services, entertainment and transport. Advocates said that 84 percent of disabled people in Greece do not have jobs.

Interior Minister Prokopis Pavlopoulos said in a statement that the government is implementing a program to provide the disabled better access to public buildings and the Internet.

The minister admitted that the government is “not happy with what we have done so far” and that more effort is needed to help disabled Greeks.