On Wednesday the Ministry of Industry, Investment and Commerce (MIIC), in collaboration with the Jamaica Intellectual Property Office (JIPO), announced Jamaica’s accession to the Marrakesh Treaty to facilitate access to published works for persons who are blind, visually impaired, or otherwise print-disabled.

The treaty, we are told, is a step towards humanitarian and social development.

“Jamaica’s accession to the treaty stands as a testament of the Andrew Holness Administration’s commitment to safeguarding and enhancing the welfare of the disabled community,” stated Senator Aubyn Hill, who piloted the Bill for accession to the treaty.

This move joins a host of initiatives that have received media coverage to improve the life and welfare of people living with varied disabilities, but for whom life is not much changed.

The MIIC release making the announcement stated that Jamaica’s 2001 census identified 163,206 individuals with disabilities, constituting 6.3 per cent of the population. Despite this, less than 1 per cent of this group is employed. More recent Government estimates suggest that up to 15 per cent of Jamaicans have some form of disability.

The concomitant representative organisations, among them Jamaica Society for the Blind, Jamaica Association for the Deaf, Jamaica Council for Persons with Disabilities, seem to only get 15 minutes of discussion annually and a mention or two in a parliamentary speech, while year after year they clamour for the same advances in quality of life.

What’s more, budgetary allocations by a percentage or per-capita basis are unequivocally inadequate.

Well-intentioned as it no doubt is, the signing on to this treaty must not become yet another inefficacious and perfunctory act.

For too long we have paid mere lip service to the well-being of people living with disabilities.

The Disabilities Act came into effect on February 14, 2022 after approval from 2014 and the affirmation of the Disabilities Regulations in 2021. It aimed to safeguard and enhance the welfare of persons with disabilities while promoting certain rights. Its terms were buttressed in yet another treaty of which Jamaica is a signatory — the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Still, many who celebrated the passage of the Bill yearn to be touched by its provisions.

The advent of the novel coronavirus pandemic exposed how ill-prepared the varied government systems were to identify individuals with disabilities; access their data, including residences; and deliver needed social services as necessary. We, in this space, trust that another crisis will not catch us similarly flat-footed, even as we hear that another international health crisis is imminent and Hurricane Beryl relief still has not reached some.

The crux of the matter is that too many Jamaicans are unconcerned with creating better access and conditions for people living with disabilities. An access ramp here and there and talking ABMs do not go far enough if we are to facilitate tangible improvements in the lives of our citizens.

Let the work truly begin, in an intentional way, to breathe life into the various treaties and legislation we promote in service of those with disabilities.