The "Access to Justice" Project is an IADB funded project administered by the Justice Improvement Programme Secretariat of the Attorney General's Office

 

Equal recognition before the law, access to justice and support and decision-making”, for Persons with Disabilities should be on an equal footing with their non-disabled counterparts in all aspects of life, and actively involved in decisions affecting their lives, in keeping with the concept “nothing about us, without us”.

In order to effect real change on the ground, physical and communication barriers to accessing justice must be pinpointed and understood, particularly inside the courtroom.  It means ending the undignified practice of lifting a defendant with a disability by the hands to reach a room or barring physically disabled lawyers from arguing cases merely because they were wheelchair-users.  Similarly, a deaf witness must have sign language translation and a blind jury member material in Braille to facilitate participation in court proceedings.  Exclusionary laws that limit the capacity of disabled people to give testimony or otherwise partake in legal proceedings must be abolished.

People with disabilities should have the right to make their own decisions and their own mistakes.  They deserve full personal and legal rights, support to express themselves effectively and freedom from violence and abuse, often disguised as assistance.

In seeking to address these inadequacies the Barbados Council for the Disabled has through funding from the Justice Improvement Program Secretariat developed a Project, which will address the following measures of Crime Prevention against Persons with Disabilities:

The activities which were designed to enhance these measures are:

• Information Cards
• Pamphlets
• Braille Pamphlets
• Audio Copies

The Council will be implementing a second activity of this project which will focus on young adults with disabilities through the implementation of workshops and self defense classes.