THE Jamaica Council for Persons with Disabilities (JCPD) will later this month roll out a communication plan designed to sensitise the public on matters concerning the disabled community.

Executive director of the JCPD, Christine Hendricks, told this week’s Jamaica Observer Monday Exchange that the plan followed a March 2015 Knowledge Attitudes and Practices Survey, which revealed that the society’s knowledge and understanding of disabilities, the capabilities of persons with disabilities and general attitudes and practices with regards to disability matters is at a level that needs improvement.

Hendricks and Christine Staple-Ebanks, founder and president of the Nathan Ebanks Foundation, were among a panel of invited guests discussing the Disabilities Act and the upcoming Inclusive Eucation Conference and Pre-conference Leadership Round-table on disability inclusion.

“The implementation of the plan will begin later this month with the partnership of the Nathan Ebanks Foundation in hosting a leadership roundtable and workshop where together the Government, NGOs (non-government organisations), civil society, persons with disabilities, parents and caregivers will have the opportunity to create a draft framework for what inclusion will mean for Jamaica in the different aspects of life,” Hendricks explained.

She emphasised that inclusion means ensuring people with disabilities (a long-term physical, mental, intellectual or sensory impairment, which may hinder effective participation in society on an equal basis with others) are an active part of everyday life as far as possible with provisions for the necessary support or requisite reasonable accommodation.

“This will mean having well fitted wheelchairs or prosthetics, hearing aids or sign interpreters, ramps, rails or widen space for entry and exits, large print or braille, readers or writers, personal assistants among other things to assist these people. Inclusion also means persons with disabilities are enabled to contribute to the creating of opportunities, share in the benefits of development or participate in decision making,” Hendricks said.

“Greater than the environment barrier is the attitudinal barrier. It is easier to hit down some steps than to try to hit down attitude. If my building is not accessible and my attitude is closed towards disabilities inclusion it is impossible. Therefore, the communication plan is targeted specifically for this because we recognise its importance,” she added.

With regards to pushing for greater awareness about the needs for people with disabilities, Hendricks said that the JCPD will partner with various organisations to facilitate accessibility audit of buildings, provide an accessible audit guide to help organisations and others assess their own buildings to ascertain what they need to put in place to make their spaces more accessible, as well as provide stakeholders with the template for the accessibility parking sign to be placed at spaces to be reserved for persons with disabilities who drive or are being driven.

Additionally, Hendricks said her organisation will help to facilitate capacity-building sessions for service providers, prepare codes of practice to guide the society on how it should interact and accommodate people with disabilities, and provide guidance with review of policies to ensure disability issues are included.

“It’s not only a rights issue, but a developmental imperative. The World Health Organisation states that persons with disabilities make up approximately 15 to 20 per cent of the population in developing countries. Therefore, Jamaica has approximately 400,000 persons with disabilities. If Jamaica is to realise vision 2030, these 400,000 persons cannot be ignored or excluded from development planning,” Hendricks emphasised, noting that people with disabilities should no longer be viewed as objects of charity or medical treatment, but rather subjects of rights and active members of society.

Moreover, Hendricks said society needs to recognise that access is not just declaring that one has a ramp, but should be viewed from the standpoint of the universal design, which is outlined in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

“This speaks to the provision of goods and services provided for everybody without making it special for anyone. Some think of access as only ramps and rails but it means widening doorways, having automated doors, buses and public transportation that can accommodate wheelchairs, a bigger bathroom, technology for persons who are visually impaired — whether it be speech to text or text to speech,” she said. “It also means signage, so if a person who is deaf comes in a building there should be signs to say where they are, give them directions on where to go. We need to have interpreters and we don’t have much of those. A programme was developed at UWI (University of the West Indies) and not many persons access that programme. There is also a need for therapists to provide for different needs and help with rehabilitation.”

She added that making these changes will go beyond benefitting only people with disabilities.

“People still think it’s optional and will say we don’t want persons with disabilities here or they don’t need my services. We have had conversations with some of these entities and for several years we’ve had elements of the universal design, but building codes are being passed without these included. When the law comes it place it will allow us to have a process to deal with those who feel they don’t need to comply,” Hendricks said.

Meanwhile, Staple-Ebanks, an advocate for persons with disabilities whose son has cerebral palsy, said the focus of this year’s conference will be on inclusive education for Jamaica having a national conversation in light of the passage of the National Disabilities Act.

“This should be where we no longer have to bend our way with being accepted but there’s now an obligation on society to understand what the needs of persons with disabilities are, and to begin to make accommodation to allow them to develop their potential. As parents we’re not looking for charity but we’re looking for is equal opportunities,” she emphasised, noting that Jamaicans must embrace the concept of disabilities inclusion in order to move forward.