Jamaica to improve conditions for disabled

Jamaica is moving towards better equipping workplaces for people with disabilities, The Codes of Practice when completed will guide employers on how to ensure disabled workers are not at a disadvantage.

The authorities say the Codes of Practice will provide minimum standards by which the public will be guided on how to interact with, and allow for, the participation of persons with disabilities. It is a component of the Disabilities Act which was passed in Parliament in October 2014.

The Jamaica Council for Persons with Disabilities (JCPD), an agency of the Ministry of Labor and Social Security, is developing the codes to expand the level of participation in the society by persons with disabilities.

Codes of Practice being drafted

JCPD executive director, Christine Hendricks, says the Council is in the process of drafting the first two Codes of Practice – Education and Training, and Employment.

“This should be finished by mid-year into the latter half of this year, so by year end we should have those two done already,” she told the Jamaica Information Service (JIS), adding that the rules will provide the public with practical guidance on how to include persons with disabilities in the two critical areas.

A practical document

“It is not going to be a legal document. It’s going to be a practical document that any Jamaican can pick up and utilize. It is to provide that support to the Act, so that persons know what this inclusion of persons with disabilities means.”

She said that sometimes people are hesitant to employ or have persons with disabilities in the classroom, because “they don’t know how to deal with them, and, as a result, they exclude them,” noting that the hesitancy to employ people with disabilities often comes across as discrimination.

J$50 million budget

The Ministry of Education, Youth and Information has approved a J$50 million budget to equip schools with wheel chair ramps.

A ‘Ramps for Schools’ project, which was launched last week, aims to install two in each of the island’s 63 constituencies.

Earlier this year, Senator Floyd Morris, who is visually impaired, moved the motion calling on the Government to use Labor Day 2018 to build ramps in schools.