T&T’s national policy on people with disabilities should be revised. That’s the opinion of the CEO of the National Centre for Persons with Disabilities, Dr Beverly Beckles. She was commenting about the mistreatment of a wheelchair-bound man by two SRPs last month, which was caught on tape.
The officers have since been suspended and charged with misbehaviour in public office, assault and malicious damage, after the video appeared on Facebook showing one officer disengaging the brakes on Robby Ramcharitar’s wheelchair and pushing him down an incline while the other was subsequently seen slapping him about the face and head.
Ramcharitar, a patient at the San Fernando General Hospital was blanked from the St Ann’s Psychiatric Hospital despite the move being ordered by Health minister Fuad Khan. Khan told the T&T Guardian that after the slapping incident, Ramcharitar was evaluated by a psychiatrist at San Fernando and was referred to St Ann’s since the psychiatric ward in South was overcrowded. But when Ramcharitar arrived at the hospital, he was denied entry. According to reports, the institution does not accommodate paraplegics.
Beckles questioned why Ramcharitar was issued a psychiatric evaluation in the first place and why was he left at the hospital for such a long period of time without anyone assisting him to get the appropriate attention he needed.
She said the entire scenario had just heightened the issue of accommodation and services for the disabled in T&T, which urgently needed to be addressed.
“I am still trying to reach the CEO of San Fernando General to find out exactly what happened with this man. I mean here is this gentleman living in the hospital for the past six months and nobody found it important to find out what was going on. He was not evaluated then, so therefore he must have been a good patient. But if he does not need to be at the hospital, why keep him there?” Beckles asked.
“There are medical social workers at the hospital. If he had no family or nowhere to stay, it is their duty to find placement for him,” she said. “There is the Cheshire Disability Service centre in Pleasantville which mainly accommodates the physically disabled. And we are right next door, why didn’t anybody contact us for advice? It makes me wonder how many other patients like Ramcharitar are in the same boat.”
She also could not understand why the St Ann’s Psychiatric Hospital would even develop and follow through on a policy that denies paraplegics. “Can’t they have mental illness and disturbances too? I have never heard more backwardness,” said Beckles.
She noted, realistically there are many disabled people who honestly do not know how or where to go to get help. And it was up to the various institutions and services to bring about awareness.
“We are really lacking training, information and a level of sensitivity. We should all be learning from this situation. All the agencies should now make it a priority to come together to set up a proper networking system which will benefit the disabled. All public offices from the security guard to the CEO should ensure their staff has a level of appreciation and awareness of people with all types of disabilities. We are in the 21st century. I mean come on. We have to remember that the issue of disability is all of our business. You can come into this world perfectly fine and end up losing a limb or your sight or hearing. That is the reality, so disability is not a matter of their problem. It is our problem.”
Social inclusion
On a recent visit to the island, USAID’s coordinator for disability and inclusive development Charlotte McClain-Nhlapo, said the first thing she noticed was the virtually non-existent transportation service for the disabled, particularly those who are wheelchair-bound.
“It is really difficult for someone in a wheelchair to get around in this city,” she told the T&T Guardian in an interview.
A paraplegic herself, the world-renowned human rights lawyer in the area of disability and child rights, was in T&T last month for the 50th anniversary gala of the National Centre For Persons With Disabilities (NCPD), where she was the featured speaker.
The South African native travels to different countries to understand how the disability experience differs from place to place—and how to empower people with disabilities.
In a 2014 interview with New Mobility Magazine (NM), a magazine for active wheelchair users, McClain-Nhlapo said: “I think there are some universal obstacles or barriers, and I think the most dominant one is attitude. It can be covert or overt, but it’s there.
“In some countries people still think disability is bad karma. In some countries people may not think of it as bad karma, but they still don’t see you as a full human being. Universally, there continues to be stigma and discrimination.”
It was these issues she sought to drive home at the gala, which was held at NCPD’S office in San Fernando.
In her address, McClain-Nhlapo said despite being the world’s largest minority group, the disabled and disability issues have remained largely invisible in the mainstream development frameworks and its processes. She noted that today there was more evidence that people with disabilities were too often left out of the development equation. And they still experience social exclusion, discrimination and abuse.
However, she believed even with all the challenges, all was not lost, as there were many groups and organisations working assiduously to improve services for the disabled and to also push the envelope on policy and legislation.
“Today we have new tools, like technology. I see the power of technology as an enabler for inclusion. Today more so than ever, technology has the potential to unlock huge barriers for people with disabilities. We know that on the planet there are currently 6.8 billion mobile subscriptions. Imagine for a moment the tremendous benefits at relatively low cost we could harness from accessible handsets, affordable software, etc,” the former World Bank senior operations specialist said.
She highlighted frameworks like the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which has to date been ratified by 151 countries and clearly recognises that disability rights are human rights.
Other notable ventures include the Post 2015 Agenda, which will make disability a priority in considering future development and the tireless, galvanised efforts on the part of disabled people organisations across the globe.
“I believe that the defining challenge of our era is to shift a new model of development—one that is more inclusive and more attuned to the world we live in. One that is more visionary depicting the world we want, one in which we are all valued, respected and afforded opportunities to reach our highest potential,” said McClain-Nhlapo.
Admitting there is no quick fix, McClain-Nhlapo said simple things such as ensuring that there are curb cuts in the sidewalks, sign language is available, and that laws are inclusive of disability, can all be addressed now.
“If we are serious about pathways from exclusion to inclusion we have to work with the key players that are experts on inclusive development, we also have to work with people with disabilities themselves; explore more the role of the private sector if we want to breathe life into the policies and ensure that tools and good practice models are brought to scale. We need to build strong partnerships and influence those who sign off on public policies and assign budgets.
“We need to embed the paradigm shift that moves away from seeing the disabled as solely beneficiaries of assistance and instead see them as change agents who contribute to broader economic and social development. “There is intrinsic value in including everybody in economic and social development, but it is also an economic imperative. When people with disabilities become more economically productive, the entire society prospers. Let us all remember that the pathway from exclusion to inclusion is not only the right thing to do it also makes economic. It’s a good investment in human capital and bolsters human rights for all.”