Parliament scrambles to get lift operable for wheelchair users
Published:Tuesday | February 15, 2022 | 12:10 AM
With the implementation of The Disabilities Act, 2014 on Monday, a key stakeholder of the affected community has signalled that it is now obligatory for government ministries, departments, public bodies, developers and owners of businesses to retrofit and build properties to create proper access for clients with disabilities, such as wheelchair users.
Lawmakers gave the nod to the regulations late last year, paving the way for the implementation of the long-awaited law on February 14. However, Gordon House, the seat of Jamaica’s legislature, is not ready to accommodate wheelchair users in the visitors’ gallery.
A wheelchair lift that was acquired to assist users is now inoperable, as the batteries that power the equipment are no longer working.
Clerk to the Houses of Parliament, Valrie Curtis, told The Gleaner on Monday that the equipment was purchased years ago but has never been used.
However, she noted that, when the equipment was tested recently, it was discovered that the batteries had stopped working.
“We used to charge it up on occasions and put it out there. It was going out every week and not being used. Last year, I told [a Parliament official] to start charging it up and put it back out in the event anybody comes here,” Curtis said.
She noted that an officer of Parliament was in the process of procuring a new set of batteries, which could only be sourced from one company overseas.
Dr Christine Hendricks, executive director of the Jamaica Council for Persons with Disabilities (JCPD), said, with the introduction of the Disabilities Act, “a gamut of things will have to be considered by our nation’s leaders and owners of property”.
“Like the Parliament, there are many other buildings in Jamaica that owners of those premises will have to ensure that there are those facilities to enable their customers or their clients that use a wheelchair to get into the building, and not just to get to the door but to come through the door independently and to be able to utilise their restrooms inside, if they so need to,” Hendricks said.
However, she urged developers preparing to begin construction to ensure that they design and make those buildings fully accessible to persons with disabilities from the get-go.
Hendricks said that the municipal corporations should ensure that the new building plans being reviewed be in line with the building code. She said that the building code takes into consideration areas of access for wheelchair users and other persons with disabilities.
The veteran advocate for disabled persons described Monday’s implementation of the law as a “breath of fresh air”, noting that the country had been awaiting the introduction of this statute for many years.
The JCPD will be transformed into a body corporate to be funded by taxpayers.
Hendricks said the physical office was being renovated to ensure that there was sufficient access, and the recruitment process for the staff has started.
Senator Dr Floyd Morris, who was instrumental in the development of the 2014 law, told The Gleaner that the statute would now bring an increasing number of persons with disabilities into mainstream society.
He said that, when all the systems are up and running, a disabilities rights tribunal will be established.
Morris said that this was a unique feature under the law.
“If a person with disability experiences discrimination at work, school, in the housing market, in terms of accessing public facilities, in terms of accessing public transportation, they can take that matter to the Jamaica Council for Persons with Disabilities and the JCDP will carry out its investigation and take the matter to the Disabilities Rights Tribunal,” Morris, who is blind, said.
Morris commended Labour and Social Security Minister Karl Samuda for fulfilling his pledge to take the regulations to Parliament and implement the law this year.
“I am saying to him that I am ready and I am willing to assist them with rolling out and implementing the legislation, because it is something that is going to affect my brothers and sisters with disabilities,” he said.