The government will next year begin construction on a new respite and residential facility designed to meet the needs of adults with disabilities, Prime Minister Mia Mottley said Tuesday as the House of Assembly continued debate on the 2023-2030 National Disabilities Policy to Improve the Lives of Persons with Disabilities.
Mottley emphasised that people with disabilities had a right “to be seen, to be heard, to be felt, to be understood” and the government and all relevant stakeholders must do all in their power to help them live productive lives.
In keeping with this commitment, the prime minister said the government would soon begin construction of a new facility designed specifically for adults living with disabilities.
“We have been discussing — the minister has not quite settled on the location — but it is important for us to build a respite centre and a residential facility that can start to accommodate adults living with disabilities who need assisted living,” she said.
“We’ve already advised the minister that this is a capital project that the government will accept and finance from as early as next year. We know that he has been completing this year the process towards the centre for senior citizens, similar to the Vauxhall and the Soroptimist Village, but the partnership that we want is that when we build these centres, we work in concert with the non-governmental organisations that have responsibility and have chosen these areas with purpose and passion. We do these things best when we do them collaboratively.”
Mottley insisted that the planned 40-bedroom respite centre would be carefully designed not to resemble an “institution” but rather a village where persons with disabilities could function comfortably, whether independently or with professional support.
She also noted: “The notion that we have to have people go to the psychiatric hospital in order to be taken care of as an adult is not the kind of Barbados that we want. Therefore, we will make that change with the development of that capital project starting in 2025.”
Mottley further expressed interest in introducing sign language into primary schools.
She also stated that while upcoming changes to the constitution would guarantee the rights of disabled persons, additional legislation is also planned to protect them in private settings to stamp out discrimination.
The PM said: “I believe that the Honourable Attorney General is aware that the constitution binds the state, but we need also to bind persons in other public spaces. The Honourable Member for St Peter [Minister of Labour Colin Jordan] brought a non-discrimination bill in the workplace, but it is not only in the workplace, and it is not only the state that may be guilty, so there is still [work to be done] on how we treat discrimination by other private actors within the context of this society. The government is committed to closing that gap.”
Mottley also called on the National Cultural Foundation, the National Sports Council, and the National Conservation Commission to do more to accommodate persons with disabilities who wish to attend their events: “[They are] stakeholders and clients up front in the same way as they see other groups within the society.”
She insisted, however, that while it was the duty of all of society to assist disabled persons, it was also the duty of those within the disabled community to register with the relevant authorities to enable better policymaking on their behalf.
“It is critical that we have an awareness programme so that we can have all persons living with disabilities registered. Without registration, the government, first and foremost, cannot know that you are there and try to help you. Secondly, without registration, we can’t understand the policy dynamics and the ecosystem that we must put in place, because for us to assume, rather than listen to you, is a form of arrogance that should never be associated with any government in servicing [you],” the prime minister said.
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