IT WAS A FAMILIAR SCENE: people assembled in a church hall in New York city to hear elected officials and others articulate remedies for a plethora of economic and social ills facing a country.
The challenges ran the gamut from rising crime, anemic economic growth, and government spending priorities to unemployment, mounting debt, and paying for tertiary education.
They were placed on the table for discussion at a recent town hall meeting arranged by A Better Life For Our People, the Barbados Labour Party’s arm in the United States.
Ostensibly, it was held to give Bajans in New York a chance to exchange ideas with Leader of the Opposition Mia Mottley, and Edmund Hinkson, the St James North Member of Parliament.
But what struck an unusual chord was Hinkson’s emphasis: on the disabled and how Barbados can address the needs of that vulnerable group in the population, especially when it came to employment, business enterprise, education, health and general economic opportunities.
His approach made sense. After all, Bajans with disabilities account for about five per cent of the population, as many as 14 000, and many of them are unemployed.
A few own businesses but they are routinely discriminated against by the society and otherwise locked out of the economy.
Yes, he spoke about the road blocks erected recently by the Government’s decision to end free tertiary level education by requiring them to pay some of the fees at the University of the West Indies. Also true, he focussed attention on alternative energy, public and private sector jobs and the role of the Bajan diaspora. But it was his passion for people with disabilities that stood out.
“We need to do more for persons with disabilities,” was the way he put it.
“We have to create opportunities for the most vulnerable in our society, including people with disabilities.
“We must encourage young people to create opportunities, to be self-employed instead of simply looking to the Government for a job.”
There was a sense of urgency in the church hall. For as the International Labour Organisation pointed out recently, “people with disabilities, who make up some one billion of the world’s population, are at greater risk of poverty due to discrimination and barriers to participation in all spheres of society that can help them escape poverty and break down prejudice”.
The Barbados Country Assessment Of Living Conditions 2010 report showed that the disabled comprise a significant share of people who live below the poverty line, a point Hinkson made in a private member’s resolution he introduced in the House of Assembly.
If approved by Parliament, the resolution would require the Government to introduce disabilities legislation designed, among other things, to ban discrimination aimed at the disabled, provide equal opportunity for them in employment, education, health, culture, recreation, political development, and ensure access to all areas of the environment, including entrepreneurial activities.
“It’s important that all of these steps be taken so that we would be in compliance with the provisions of the United Nations Convention in the Rights of Persons With Disabilities,” the opposition parliamentarian and a member of Barbados Council for the Disabled said.
Jobs and realising entrepreneurial dreams give everyone a sense of economic and social independence. The disabled aren’t any different. That’s why a group of venture capitalists in Britain led by Hardeep Rai recently established Kaleidoscope, a fund in London that seeks to provide financial backing to disabled entrepreneurs unable to get bank loans and other forms of financing for their business ventures. Barbados can do with such a fund.
“There are tones of great ideas out there just waiting to be tapped into,” said Rai, whose son was born with severe brain damage.
As Rai explained, the disabled can start and successfully run their own enterprises. After all, self-employment is a great way to earn a living and utilise the full potential of disabled business people. But the Government must erect the enabling environment to help. The private sector too can lend a helping hand.
The presence of Senator Kerryann Ifill in the presidency of the Barbados Senate and the helm of the Barbados Council For the Disabled should be positive proof of the ability of the disabled to perform well.
Ifill, who is blind, is an inspiration not simply to the disabled but to the country as a whole.
In an address at the launch of the council’s empowerment card, Roxanne Brancker, a member of the Barbados Chamber of Industry and Commerce council, spoke of the responsibility for changing attitudes and responses to the disabled, which she argued, quite correctly, belongs to everyone.
Ultimately, changes in attitude and the opening up of opportunities would enable people with disabilities to “fulfill their potential as citizens,” insisted Brancker.
The examples being set by the Senate president, Hinkson’s advocacy, Brancker’s common sense approach, the political will of the Government and the backing of the business sector can make a substantial difference in ushering in a new and supportive era for the disabled.