BASSETERRE, St. kitts - THE Federation, like many other countries around the world, lacks many policies and initiatives to assist those within the differently-abled community to function properly and live without duress.
It is an area that was acknowledged by the Junior Minister with Responsibility for the Aging and Disability, Isalean Phillip. But she however committed that her Government would work to better the lives of persons living with disabilities within St. Kitts and Nevis.
During her address to recognize Saturday (Dec. 3) as International Day of Persons with Disabilities, she reminded of the work already being done by stakeholders.
“The Government of St. Kitts and Nevis is committed to improving the lives of persons with disabilities, including visitors to the Federation. It has embarked on a mission to honouring and fulfilling its obligations of the Convention on Rights of Persons with Disabilities, because in order to make equitable life a reality we must ensure that no one is left behind,” she assured.
She continued: “Just last week, the Ministry concluded a week of stakeholder consultations in Nevis and in St. Kitts to inform the development of a public awareness campaign and a survey to capture data on persons with disability, which will be used for policy and programme planning. As per this year’s theme, we aspire to transform attitudes and ideas about persons with disabilities so that we can become a more practical and equitable society that enables the participation of everyone, regardless of ability.”
For many years, those persons in the differently-abled community had called for changes to a number of policies in order for them to have easy access to building and freedom of mobility.
For example, many of them using wheelchairs find it difficult to be able to access certain buildings to transact business. They had been relentless in their complaints about the situation and some changes were made as a number of sidewalks were paved to allow for access.
Minister Phillip also used the occasion to champion the cause for employment of those living with disabilities.
“As a nation, we must begin to look at disability-inclusive development, whereby access to employment among persons with disabilities is increased. Being innovative requires us to identify opportunities to train and employ persons in task-oriented jobs that they can do well as well as using assistive technologies that can help persons gain employment and participate more in leisure and sporting activities,” the Minister noted.
Studies, Phipps reminded, have shown organizations that embrace best practices for employing and supporting more persons with disabilities in their workforces outperform their peers.
She pointed to a four-year period 28% higher revenue, double the net income, and 30% higher economic profit margins than other companies for those organizations that have disability-inclusive employment practices.
“What these statistics indicate is the added value that persons with disabilities can bring to our national development if we make efforts to accommodate and adapt environments to enable their inclusion. In this administration’s thrust to build a resilient and sustainable future, we also recognise the need for social development that exhibits cultural and attitudinal shifts around how we treat and engage with those who are differently-abled than us,” Phillips added.
She ended her address by recommitting that her Government would continue to make “efforts to support and include persons with disabilities in development, and I encourage all of us, individuals as well as public and private sector entities, to be a part of contributing to transformative solutions”.
