KINGSTON, Jamaica. Four years after the Disabilities Act came into force, people with disabilities in Jamaica still run into physical and communication barriers every day, according to Alister McLean, disability inclusion advocate at the Jamaica Council for Persons with Disabilities.
Public infrastructure remains inconsistent, he said, pointing to pavements built without kerb cuts, which leave wheelchair users unable to get onto the sidewalk at all.
Communication is the other failing. When Hurricane Melissa approached, deaf citizens did not receive consistent warnings throughout. Mr McLean said emergency planning has to account for the different needs of different disabilities, and that no single approach fits everyone. Government websites, he added, often lack larger type for people with low vision and clear link labels for people who are blind.
He intends to step up public education in both the public and private sectors so that more people understand what the Act requires and what protections it gives. The law was passed in 2014 and brought into effect in 2022.
Complaints are reaching the Disabilities Rights Tribunal, said Travis Ebanks, the council’s legal officer, and judgments have been handed down in some. The council first assesses whether a complaint shows a case of discrimination, then offers mediation. A number of disputes have been settled that way and withdrawn from the tribunal; those that cannot be reconciled go forward for adjudication.
Mr Ebanks agreed that awareness is the gap. People with disabilities, he said, need to know the routes open to them when their rights are breached.
LRTVS News Desk
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