Speech to the Annual Lecture of the Multiple Sclerosis Society of Barbados at the Grand Barbados Resort on  May 21, 2008 by President of the Barbados Council for the Disabled, Joey Harper.

The challenges the disabled community face are not difficult ones to address, provided persons who are vested with the authority to do so approach these challenges in a manner that sees the solutions as achievable and not insurmountable; simply because the persons for whom they seek to make conditions not only easier but more convenient are differently abled.

There are a number of issues that have created stress for persons living with disabilities and one that is significant is the lackadaisical manner that persons in decision making positions approach matters dealing with issues that have significant impact on these persons lives. This approach is seen from the manner that from government to corporate Barbados treats issues relating to PWDs.

I would like to address a few:

WELFARE
  The issue of welfare: Disabled Persons receive $126.00 per month, this is scarcely enough to maintain them or to meet even their basic needs compounded with this is the fact that even if they receive a temporary job the subsistence allowance is stopped immediately.
This poses a difficulty for sometimes young men and women who are only able to work sometimes for short periods of time and if they do not inform welfare that they are working the person in the community who seems always to be watching will act as an informant. This causes the PWD to be wary of taking short term assignments.

Yet the system as we like to refer to bureaucratic inefficiencies does nothing to address the situation and easing the obvious problems that persons seeking to enjoy equal opportunities face.

ACCESSIBILITY
  The Council for the Disabled has been working to ensure that Barbadian business houses are aware of the fact that we need a Fully Accessible Barbados so that PWD will be accorded the same rights to travel around the country without being faced by obstructions. Let me make it clear it is not about sidewalks alone; it is about total accessibility. Business houses have seen the need to create an environment that will make working, shopping, eating out a part of the disabled persons world. This is nothing that we are seeking to invent, this is something that every able bodied Barbadian takes as his or her right, and to get the message across has been met with every excuse, cost factor and downright disinterest available.

PARKING
  Areas have been allocated for persons with disabilities to park, these signs are ignored with a callousness that evokes�to those conscious of the difficulties that PWD face�anger at the responses given, when abled bodied persons use facilities that are reserved. What is even more distressing is that the Council has been unable to get Government either past or present to bring legislation that will make it a traffic offence that can be reported and if the perpetrator is found guilty in a court of law a fine be imposed. This bit of legislation has been languishing for a couple of years, but it does not seem important simply because the lawmakers were up to now not affected.

ARCHITECTS
  Barbados has a proud reputation for construction at all levels, architects have come from every country in the world and successfully set up consultancies in Barbados. Independent persons such as I and successive Council for the Disabled members have sought to gain the ear of this professional grouping in an effort to design private homes with the disabled in mind.

The question may be asked, why? The answer is simply that a disability is a car accident, a slip on a staircase, a stroke away; we must be prepared for any eventuality. But apart from this the integration of the disabled community must be seen as a whole and snippets of ideas. The disabled must be encouraged to interact and believe me, it is not easy to have to face the embarrassment of visiting a friend and needing to use a bathroom that cannot accommodate the disability that one may be living with.

There are in excess of fourteen thousand Persons Living With Disabilities in Barbados; this is a conservative figure. It is my belief that the number is significantly greater and can easily represent as much as ten percent of our population. This is an equation that cannot be ignored, simply because it creates challenges for the education, health, housing, and employment which brings me to my final point.

EMPLOYMENT
  In order for any human being to enjoy a level of dignity and independence, that individual must believe within him self that his existence is not and can never be seen as parasitical. No man or woman likes the idea of being completely dependent on others especially when this individual knows that he or she can make a contribution to his or her own upkeep.

Disabled persons are capable of earning a living and want more than ever to be given the opportunity to work and be gainfully employed. I do not believe in affirmative action, I believe that every man has a right to his or her dignity, a working person feels secure in the knowledge that he can play his or her part.

Unfortunately there are too few persons without disabilities that are willing to open doors for persons with disabilities, in fact it would appear that disability blindness is the worse disability of all, this blindness is one that makes persons without disabilities not see the significant contribution that this valuable section of the community can make.

I am pleading with the powers that be in corporate Barbados as well as government to stop making token sorties into the world of the disabled and seek to use the tremendous skills available to entrepreneurs to make space for persons who can contribute. Yes it will need some adjustments made to the plant; yes government will have to play a part in the adjustment. For example a company employing PWD who has had to make adjustments to the physical plant will be allowed a tax concession on materials needed to make the change in Bathrooms, work stations etc. The benefits accrued cannot be counted in dollar value alone, but will be seen in the productivity that could easily be added by a sector of our community with time, skill and desire to be used.

Compounded with this is the fact that a significant sector of the community once considered dormant would now be launched into the consumer market now with their own spending power, do not disregard the impact that this could have on the economy.

MEDICATION
  Members of the MS community are faced with significant challenges as far as medication is concerned, the Ministry of Health is looking into this matter and I am sure that the Minister will see the need to address this situation as a matter of urgency. I am sure that Dr. DeAngelis will address this matter I am certainly not trained in this area but to say, we must not create a situation where any member of the community feels that they are being marginalised or discriminated against.