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Disability law to be introduced next month
– Health Minister
Following repeated calls by persons with disabilities for legislation to be enacted to defend their rights, Health Minister Dr. Leslie Ramsammy has announced that the disability legislation will be tabled for its first reading in the National Assembly early next month.
Minister Ramsammy made the revelation yesterday at the National Gymnasium, at the culmination of a march in observance of the National Week for Persons with Disabilities.
Minister Ramsammy explained that the legislation has already been drafted and only requires the ‘go ahead’ from Head of the Presidential Secretariat, Dr. Roger Luncheon, Presidential Advisor Gail Teixeira and himself before it is presented for Cabinet’s consent.
Dr. Ramsammy noted that, after the first reading of the bill, he intends to ask the National Assembly to move it to a special select committee before it is passed, so that all the members can have consensus and pass the bill without delay.
Persons with disabilities march along the streets of Georgetown in observance of National Week of Disability
The disability legislation dictates that buildings be more friendly to persons with disabilities, so that they can have easy access to the services being provided therein on a daily basis.
Meanwhile, Chairman of the Guyana Council of Organizations for Persons with Disabilities, Leon Walcott, urged the minister to fast track the disability legislation, noting that the organisation does not want promises, but action. He explained that, despite Government’s best efforts to assist persons with disabilities, the administration is still ‘handicapping’ them by not passing the bill.
“It is undignified for us to stop and beg vehicles to give us a pass, and it is an injustice for us to make a report at the police station and have the officers laugh at us. We really need the legislation,” Walcott said.
He explained that since there appears to be a delay in introducing the legislation, some persons had wanted to ‘protest’ in front of the Health Ministry, to speed up the process. Walcott also urged media houses to be careful with some of the words which they use to describe persons with disabilities, since these tend to hurt some people’s feelings.
Meanwhile, Chairman of the National Commission on Disability (NCD), Evelyn Hamilton, says that although the bill will be made into law, it will be important to pay attention to how it will be implemented.
She noted that persons need to be aware and to fully understand the issues that persons with disabilities face.
‘Only then will they fully appreciate the laws,” she said.
In this regard, Minister Ramsammy said that, come 2009, he will ensure that every time he has to deliver a major speech, there will be someone present to do sign language.
He noted that this will also occur when he has to address Parliament.
Earlier in the year, Minister Ramsammy had made transportation available for disabled persons who have appointments at the Georgetown Hospital, and in the new year, the hospital will establish a special clinic day for disabled persons, so that they do not have to join long lines.
“My job is to make the promises and my job is to help to make it happen, but my job is not to actually do it. We all have to do it together,” Minister Ramsammy said.
National Week for Persons with Disabilities is being observed under the theme, ‘Dignity and Justice for all of us.’
In Guyana, there are approximately 60,000 persons living with disabilities, while 650 million people worldwide live with some form of disability.
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