Launch of Disability Awareness Day (DAD) 28 March 2007

Good morning everyone, Hon. Anthony Wood, Minister of Education Youth and Sport, Mr. Olsen, Representative UNICEF, Mr. Edison Alleyne, PS Ministry of Social Transformation, Sir Bishop Wood and Lady Wood, Ms Roslyn Hurley, Special Envoy for Persons with Disabilities. Mr. Errol Best, Director National Disability Unit, Ms. Jennifer Hoyte, Head Teacher of Arthur Smith Primary School, Directors and Presidents of affiliated organisations, Specially invited guests, children of Arthur Smith Primary School, members of the press.

We are often told that children are our future and today, during the month of the disabled, we are both honouring and hoping to influence the future of our children.

Disability Awareness Day (DAD) is an exciting new initiative designed to change society’s views about disability and the rights of persons with disabilities.

Yes, as advocates, we can raise the level of awareness of the general public on issues that impact on the lives of persons with disabilities (PWD) and we can lobby politicians to ensure that policies and practice are designed to include PWD, but we have some major challenges in changing the attitude of some individuals who appear to have fixed ideas about disability.

I remember trying to use a disabled parking space and finding the 6 spaces provided by the retailer occupied by 8 cars. I parked next door to the bays and watched several healthy looking young men driving off, many with young children as passengers and wondered about the messages that fathers or caregivers where giving to their young children.

I finally spoke to a father telling him that it was not fair to use the disabled bays; he looked at his watch and said “they should not be out this time of the night”, from my position in the car, he could not tell that I have a disability, it was approximately ¼ to 8 in the evening, I was left speechless.

It can be very hard to get adults with fixed ideas to change, so we are depending on teachers and you as children to achieve lasting change.  Your experiences at school would help you to influence others.

Over the past few years, some of the most thoughtful persons on disability issues that I have met are those who went to school with Kerryann Ifill or Kreg Nurse.  Kerry is blind and Kreg was a wheelchair user. The young people that went to school with Kerry and Kreg are amazingly comfortable talking about disability issues. Being at school with Kerry and Kregg has made those young adults more aware of the abilities of PWD, they are more accepting of differences and have a deeper understanding of the challenges that persons with disability encounter on a daily basis.

It is unfortunate, but we all know that children and in fact persons with disabilities were often not included in the provision of services that the rest of the community took for granted. They were often shut away and not sent to school, either because their parents wanted to protect them from bullying or because there was no accessible transport, or schools were not equipped to meet their needs.

I would like you as children, to think of how it would feel if your brothers and sisters went out to play, went to the cinema, went to parties and fun activities and left you at home with nothing to do. Imagine growing up without the opportunity of freely choosing your own friends or not having someone that you can call a trusted friend. More importantly, imagine being bullied and ignored because your needs are different.

This DAD initiative gives children and teachers the opportunity to be change agents. What you do will have an impact on someone’s life, that person may very well be someone that you know.

You may be able to stop another child bullying someone because they are perceived as different, you may be able to speak to a builder and tell them that the a ramp or side walk that they are building is not safe and accessible, or that they have not made provisions for granny or granddad to hear the church service. There is so much that each school and each student can do to achieve lasting change.

As PWD we know that we cannot achieve change on our own, over the years we have had support from many people, too many to mention this morning. Today we would like to give a very special thank you to Hon. Anthony Wood, Minister of Education for agreeing to allocate the last Wednesday in March as school’s Disability Awareness Day.

I would also like to thank Ms. Jennifer Hoyte, for enthusiastically coming on board with the DAD concept and for hosting the launch of DAD.
A very special thank you to Reverent Sir Wilfred Wood, you have written a wonderful commemorative prayer, a prayer that thousands of children across Barbados, would be hearing this morning and for years to come.
 
Thank you to UNICEF for contributing to DAD promotional stickers, 28, 000 children will be wearing the DAD stickers on our very first Disability Awareness Day.

As said earlier, over the years the Council have received tremendous support. Today I take great pleasure in announcing that Mrs. Julie Arthur the wife of Prime Minister The Hon. Owen Arthur has agreed to be patron of Disability Awareness Day. Unfortunately, Mrs. Arthur is not able to be with us this morning as she is travelling, but she has sent a representative and has written, accepting our invitation. As you can imagine we are extremely pleased with Mrs Arthur’s willingness to be patron of the DAD initiative.

We feel that as a mother of young children, Mrs. Arthur’s interest and involvement with the DAD programme gives impetus to our goal of equality for all. We look forward to her embracing your creative ideas and heading up the DAD initiative.

We also look forward to the participation of teachers, your inclusion of children with disabilities and your inclusion of disability issues in your programme of activities, will certainly help us to make Disability Awareness Day a meaningful event for years to come.

As you will see from today’s activities the students from Arthur Smith Primary School has already put disability issues on their agenda, thank you for learning to sign our commemorative prayer. We are all encouraged by your enthusiasm.

In closing and in memory of this very special occasion we would like to present a copy of our commemorative prayer to

The Hon. Anthony Wood.
On behalf of The Hon. Trevor Prescod, Mr. Eddison Alleyne
Sir Wifred Wood,
On behalf of Mrs Julie Arthur,  Ms. Wanita Gittens,
Ms. Jennifer Hoyte.

Boneta Phillips -  President
28 March 2007