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Over the next 24 months, members of the disabled community will have platforms to highlight their challenges and call for greater social and economic access as RISE Life Management Services launched a media campaign as part of their ‘Enabling Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities’ (EOPD) project. 

The EOPD project aims to provide greater accessibility and protection for disabled individuals and raise the public’s awareness of the disabilities act as well as provisions to be made for disabled persons in work, school and other social and economic spaces.

The campaign was officially launched on Thursday at The Jamaica Pegasus hotel in New Kingston, ahead of the International Day of Disabled Persons today (December 3).

The project is funded by the European Union and is executed in partnership with the several civil society organisations (CSO), including the Jamaica Association on Intellectual Disabilities (JAID), the Abilities Foundation, the Caribbean Christian Centre for the Deaf (CCCD), the Jamaica Association for the Deaf (JAD), and receives the strong endorsement and support of the Jamaica Council for Persons with Disabilities (JCPD).

Shawn McGregor, programme manager, RISE Life Management Services, said the main objective of the media campaign is to complement other project efforts by raising awareness and combating stereotypes regarding persons within the disabled community.

“The main objective of the project is to ensure that persons with disabilities are fully integrated into society, have access to appropriate care and support services, and are treated as valuable human resources. We are implementing a number of activities towards achieving this and will be working with several stakeholders in order to make it a reality. This media campaign is one such activity that is geared towards raising awareness and combating stereotypes regarding persons with disabilities,” he explained.

Under the project, RISE intends to make significant strides in providing greater accessibility to public services for persons within the disabled community.

Through the Sign Up JA component of the project, over 102 persons, including public sector workers, have been trained in Jamaican Sign Language (JSL). They graduated with Level-1 certification on September 22 this year. 

Another notable component of the project is increased employment for the disabled community through training. A total of 80 participants are currently enrolled in skills training programmes ranging from furniture making to early childhood education.

“We are providing vocational skills training for persons with disabilities, and we are doing so in partnership with the Caribbean Christian Centre for the Deaf and the Abilities Foundation. At Abilities, we are training young people with various disabilities in furniture making, while at CCCD, we are training deaf students in early childhood education, among other skills. We are happy that we have been able to help young people to realise their dreams, many of whom did not have the opportunity to do so because of their disability,” McGregor said.

Aniceto Rodriguez, head of cooperation at the Delegation of the European Union to Jamaica, Belize, Turks and Caicos lslands, Bahamas and The Cayman Islands, said the organisation is pleased to support the EOPD initiative.

“We at the EU are therefore pleased to support the actions of this project as it contributes to assisting the government and people of Jamaica through CSO action to meet the targets under the Disabilities Act, on behalf of Jamaicans living with disabilities.”

Aniceto Rodriguez, head of cooperation at the Delegation of the European Union to Jamaica, Belize, Turks and Caicos lslands, Bahamas and The Cayman Islands

“The European Union is committed to raising awareness about the living conditions of persons with disabilities, the challenges they encounter in everyday life, and support tools that improve their lives. The EU is committed to defending the human rights, fundamental freedoms and dignity for all, including persons with disabilities.”

He continued: “We at the EU are therefore pleased to support the actions of this project as it contributes to assisting the government and people of Jamaica through CSO action to meet the targets under the Disabilities Act, on behalf of Jamaicans living with disabilities.”

Jamaica’s Disabilities Act was passed in 2014, with the regulations being implemented in February 2022.

Karl Samuda, minister of labour and social security, said the Act is set to remove social barriers for persons with disabilities.

“Earlier this year, Jamaica achieved another significant milestone in its history. This achievement I speak of is the Disabilities Act of 2014 and its Regulations, which recently came into effect for the protection and promotion of the rights of persons with disabilities. As you may be aware, the legislation ensures that PwDs will have full access to the benefits of their society. Equally, PwDs will have the same opportunity to participate in all spheres of society without fear of marginalisation and discrimination,” he noted.

In the meantime, Opposition Leader Mark Golding said he was hopeful about the positive impact of the project.

“Discrimination may or may not be a state of mind, but what really matters is the impact of what is actually done. If that impact adversely affects a section of the population because of their disability, then the effect is discriminatory in a very real sense, whether the society as a whole is conscious of this or not,” he said.

“It is my hope that this project, ‘Enabling opportunities for Persons with Disabilities’, will make great strides in building awareness and momentum in the struggle to end discrimination in all its forms. There is a long journey ahead of us as we seek to make Jamaica a society where everything is done to eliminate stigmatisation, provide practical access, deepen inclusion across the society and create opportunities for persons with disabilities.”

His parents, Professor John Golding and Patricia Golding, made immense contributions to the disabled community.

Professor Golding’s work as an orthopedic surgeon stretched beyond providing conventional medical care and included many altruistic endeavours such as the establishment of a rehabilitation centre, a prosthetics and orthotics centre, a physiotherapy school and a hospice.