Jamaica commemorates International Day for Persons with Disabilities
/ Our Today
administrator
Jamaica joins the global community in commemorating today (December 3) as International Day for Persons with Disabilities.
The celebrations around this day are anchored in the theme, “Fostering disability inclusive societies for advancing social progress.” Intrinsic to this theme is the fact that for us to advance socially, disability inclusion is a must.
Persons with disabilities are amongst the most marginalised in society. Their marginalisation comes about due to structural barriers in society that serve to restrict their participation and inclusion. Consequently, they have lower education outcomes, poor health outcomes, low employment and face social isolation. All of these can change if we accept the fact that people operate and function differently.
Opposition Senator Floyd Morris, who is visually disabled, highlights that “with the advent of modern technologies, inclusion of persons with disabilities in the mainstream of society is much easier. There are technologies to facilitate the inclusion of persons who are blind, deaf, intellectually disabled, physically disabled and those with neurological disorders.“
However, he celebrates and recognises that Jamaica has made some progress over the years, positing “we have a far way to go to ensure that disability inclusion becomes a way of life in Jamaica. It must become the norm that when we have national events, sign language is a natural feature. We must ensure that when we build, facilities have access for persons with disabilities.”
Writing on his Facebook page on Wednesday, Senator Morris declared, “able-bodied individuals must stop parking in spaces that are reserved for persons with disabilities”.
“Importantly, we must stop mocking persons with disabilities and recognise that disability respects no one. You might be able-bodied today and disabled tomorrow. So let us build a society that is disability inclusive and advance social progress.”
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