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Invisible barriers: Living with a disability in SKN
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SOMEWHERE between seven to 10 percent of the world’s population go through their daily lives with a mental or physical disability, according to a 2000 report by the World Health Organisation (WHO).
This may not seem like a significant number, until one realises that this equates to as many as 600 million people, or double the population of the United States, that are limited from participating in society in a way that the remaining 90 percent would consider ‘normal’.
Of those 600 million persons, the WHO estimates that 80 percent live in developing nations such as St. Kitts-Nevis. Though St. Kitts-Nevis has never carried out a survey to accurately assess the number of persons living with disabilities in the Federation, the St. Kitts-Nevis Association for Persons living with Disibilities (SNAPD) estimates the figure to be somewhere between 4 000 and 5 000.
“It is something you have to live with to really understand, because it is hard to explain how a person who can’t speak feels when they are trying to get a point across to somebody who doesn’t know sign language. It’s kind of hard to explain how a person in a wheelchair would want to do everything that persons who can walk can, and then find out that he or she can’t,” SNAPD President Anthony Mills explained in an interview with SKNVibes.
“Try sitting down and doing everything. Just try it for a day - try to wash, try to cook, try to clean, try to get in town and do business. Imagine you want to go into a store, but you can’t go in. Not because you don’t want to, but because you just can’t.
“I like to ask people to imagine you come in town one day and all of the sidewalks are blocked from you using them. How would you feel?” he added.
The challenges that persons living with disabilities face in St. Kitts-Nevis are as diverse as their personal afflictions.
Wheelchair-bound persons find that very few buildings or sidewalks have access ramps, which can often put them in danger of being hit by passing vehicles. Those with visual impairments would struggle to find Braille books in most schools. In the world of work, many employers in St. Kitts-Nevis would avoid hiring a person with a disability because of the minor accommodations that may have to be made to integrate him/her.
Mills said that this is a major issue facing the nation because of the large number of persons affected either directly or indirectly. He argues that nearly every person in the country would know at least one person living with a disability via family or friendship.
“Suppose it was you who was being shut out of society. It is hard enough being a person with a disability, and then add to that a society that does not seem to want you to be a part of it. We have a problem where we are facing closed doors, not open doors. The doors always seem to be closed to us and it is kind of frustrating. It makes life harder to live than it should be,” he said.
Interventions and Conventions
A recent story on SKNVibes regarding SNAPD’s Disabilities Awareness Month garnered a comment that highlights the entrenched mentality of discrimination persons living with disabilities face:
People with disabilities are a minority. If a store does not accommodate disabled people then do not buy from it. How can a man with a disability expect to have the same rights as a man who is normal? Should people with disabilities be allowed to work construction and get the same pay as a normal person? This is like saying that I should get the same pay as PM Douglas when he is the PM and I am an office clerk. Everybody cannot be equal! If God wanted it that way it would be so. ~~Real Talk
While Real Talk’s opinion may be more directly confrontational than much of the population would be, Mills argues that changing discriminatory mentalities would remain difficult until legislation is put in place that assists the integration of those with disabilities into the rest of society.
In the view of SNAPD, Mills stated, the most efficient way for the government to do this is to sign onto and ratify the United Nations’ Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
The 50-Article Convention mandates that signed countries recognise the equal rights of persons living with disabilities, provide those persons with equal opportunities in society and respect the autonomy of those persons, among many other mandates.
“What we as an association are trying to do is to make sure that those rights outlined by the Convention are protected here in St. Kitts and Nevis, and that people with disabilities would be included and enjoy the same opportunities as everybody else,” Mills said.
While the Convention was first adopted by the UN General Assembly in December 2006, to date, only 53 of the organisation’s 192-member countries have become fully obligated to its tenets through ratification.
The Convention has so far seen mild acceptance in the Caribbean, with Cuba and Jamaica fully ratifying it, but St. Kitts-Nevis has yet to sign the document.
When asked about the issue at an April press conference, Prime Minister Dr. Hon. Denzil Douglas said that his government viewed the matter as important, but needed to research it more before signing the Convention.
“We have asked our mission in New York to identify the appropriate Convention and the conditionalities. I am going to have our legal department look at this Convention, advise us as to the implications, which, of course, can be mandatory to us as a government, and to move forward on this important Convention.
“We support very fully the welfare of those who have disabilities, and to have their welfare looked after at the highest level,” Douglas stated.
Despite the verbal support, Mills said that local politicians must show their support for persons living with disabilities through actions not words, be it by signing the Convention or something as simple as making ramp access a mandatory part of the nation’s Building Code.
“We need the government to pass laws that protect the rights of persons with disabilities. That in itself would make so many things easier. If the government put the laws in place, people would have to follow them.
“I am asking them to address it specifically, and not in the context of broad terms like ‘the less fortunate’ or ‘more vulnerable’. I am saying, address disability issues specifically, just like you would address the issue of AIDS specifically,” the SNAPD President stated.
With the political season in full swing, however, Mills sent a stern warning to any politician who would make false promises to earn votes.
“We don’t want any politician hijacking our agenda and making it political. That is one reason why we are trying to get everyone in the government and opposition involved, so none of them could think ‘this is an election year and we are going to use this’.
“It is not a political thing, because disability does not care if you are rich or poor, black or white, PAM or Labour. I would bet any kind of money that if you take each party and look through their supporters you would find persons with disabilities,” Mills said. “It is a human rights issue!”
A call to action
The past year has seen SNAPD actively raising their profile in the community through the media, school visits, panel discussions and, most recently, a month of awareness activities in May.
Despite these efforts, Mills said that the public has yet to show strong support through their actions.
“There has always been verbal support, but what I am looking to see is if these words would then translate into action. Everybody seems to agree that what we are fighting for is the right thing, and it is needed and necessary, but the actions are not matching the words.
“I think we need the public’s help to put the pressure on the politicians. That is one of our main focuses, to get the public more involved,” he noted.
The SNAPD President said that apart from speaking to one’s constituency representative, members of the public who are interested in promoting equal rights could take part in a future survey by the organisation that would accurately document the number of persons living with disabilities in the Federation.
“Right now we need to get volunteers. The idea is to find out how many persons we have in the Federation that are living with disabilities, and also find out the various types and where they live at. It would help the government realise where they are in the community, and then they could tailor the health services accordingly.
“It is important because it is not a one-size-fits-all situation when it comes to persons with disabilities. A person with a speech impairment would have different needs to a person in a wheelchair, and a person in a wheelchair would have different needs to a person with cerebral palsy,” Mills stated.
Minor advances in the rights of persons living with disabilities, such as the installation of ramps at the St. Kitts General Post Office, have been made recently thanks to the efforts of SNAPD, but Mills feels that without the support of the general public and government this large sub-section of society would continue to be marginalised.
“To me it would be easier if society would integrate persons with disabilities instead of having to take care of us. It puts a [financial] strain on the country, and all you have to do is let people take care of themselves.
“So, instead of you thinking of us like a burden, realise we are trying to go out there and earn our own living; but without the ramps, the Braille books in the library, the sign interpreters for deaf children and so on, it makes it hard. That is what we are fighting for.”
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