More persons, entities seeking to comply with Disabilities Act

More individuals and entities are seeking information and advice on how best they can treat with persons with disabilities since the Disabilities Act came into effect over a year ago.

Executive Director of the Jamaica Council for Persons with Disabilities (JCPD), Dr Christine Hendricks, tells JIS News that persons have been reaching out to the organisation and requesting sensitisation sessions.

“Persons, business places, various institutions… they have been asking more questions in terms of what do I need to do, how can I garner training for my staff on how to interact with persons with disabilities. So, the sensitisation requests have been greater,” she notes.

“Usually, we invite ourselves in, but more and more businesses and organisations are inviting us in for presentations and sensitisation, wanting partnerships just to help them to build out better... infrastructure or their customer service delivery to persons with disabilities,” she adds.

The Disabilities Act, which was passed in 2014, makes provisions to safeguard and enhance the welfare of persons with disabilities across Jamaica. It came into effect on February 14, 2022, following the approval of the Disabilities Regulations in 2021.

Hendricks notes that the council has been taking steps to ensure that persons are adhering to the act and has adopted an accessibility checklist, which has been approved by the Bureau of Standards Jamaica (BSJ).

It is based on the Americans with Disabilities Act Accessibility Guidelines and Chapter 11 (Accessibility) of the Kentucky Building Code 1997.

This checklist is designed to identify architectural and communication barriers encountered by persons with disabilities in private and public facilities.

“So, we have that available to help entities to tick off and check off their own organisation in terms of infrastructure access. It is a checklist that asks some questions and provides some information on measurements, on how to make the information that you have on your signage, in your buildings, more accessible to persons with low vision or visual impairments,” Hendricks tells JIS News.

The accessibility checklist also includes guidelines for making web content more available to people with disabilities, and how persons who are deaf, can access information.

“So, this checklist provides a wide range of information to help companies, entities, organisations to just ensure that their space is more accessible to persons with disabilities and to the society in general,” Hendricks says, noting that universal access also benefits other vulnerable groups such as children and the elderly.

Hendricks says the Ministry of Education and Youth, in accordance with the Disabilities Act, has the responsibility to ensure that all educational facilities that fall under their purview are accessible to persons with disabilities.

As such, all infrastructure development projects for schools will comply with the legislation, with provisions for access to classrooms, bathrooms, and floors.

Work is under way to install chair lifts at several schools that have multiple floors, including Sydney Pagon Academy in St Elizabeth and at Mount St Joseph's High in Manchester.

Works to enable disability access are also being carried out at Holmwood Technical High in Manchester and Bridgeport High in St Catherine.

Construction is set to begin in short order at Exchange All-Age in St Ann, while approvals are pending from the municipal authority for Cedric Titus High and Albert Town High in Trelawny.

In addition, access ramps are being built at the Merl Grove High School in St Andrew at a cost of $2 million.

Hendricks says that society must begin to restructure its mind around “what all access” entails, which, she notes, is more than the provision of ramps and rails.

For further information, persons may visit the JCPD website at https://jcpd.gov.jm/

- JIS News

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