Top Barbadian advocate for the disabled ‘sees’ much room for improvement here

Jan 08, 2012 News

In the ‘eyes’ of Peter Serieux, a St. Lucian-born Barbadian citizen, the country still has a far way to

Serieux enjoys some coconut water (with steel drops) in downtown Georgetown.

go in terms of bettering the lives of the blind and the otherwise physically challenged persons.
Serieux has for years been a staunch advocate for the disabled and can boast significant achievements for his work in his homeland as a member of the Council for the Disabled in Barbados.
Diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa in both eyes, Serieux, is now totally blind and although he is enjoying his brief holiday in Guyana, his observations of the plight of the disabled in the land of many waters provides some food for thought.
For instance, the non-existence of proper pavements to accommodate the free movement of persons with disability in most parts of Guyana did not go unnoticed. There were also the uneven roads where visually impaired persons are forced to use as a result of an uncaring public in most cases.
This is not the first time in Guyana for Serieux, but since his previous visit here in 1998 was an official one, he did not get much time to move around freely and experience for himself what others like him go through.
This time around he has had the opportunity to go through several parts of the city, including downtown Georgetown and as far as Corentyne, Berbice.
“I didn’t come to investigate or so, but I could not help walking through the city and feeling the ups and the downs and the holes and so, and I wonder to myself how can a disable person survive or manoeuvre on your road,” he told Kaieteur News in an exclusive interview.
“And not only that; even the people on the streets, like they don’t seem to recognize blind people to give them a room to pass,” he added.
The situation is quite different in Barbados, he said.
Serieux himself has faced discrimination as a person with disability and according to him that was his main reason for championing the cause of persons in similar circumstances.
Serieux does not like to be referred to as visually impaired.
“To me, once I cannot identify a number, a letter, a person, I am blind.”
Although he was born with the impairment, as a child, Serieux could have seen and done everything that a normal child could do during the day; but at night he saw nothing.
“If there was a truck or car or any kind of vehicle parked on the road, without light, I would walk into it at night. If there was light I would see it,” he said.

Prominent disabled persons advocate in Barbados Peter Serieux being interviewed by Kaieteur News’ Dale Andrews.

Despite being very young in age he was quickly able to adjust to his situation and like most islanders a game of crickets did not escape him.
At school, Serieux would encounter difficulty seeing on the blackboard if he was about four rows away. He pointed out that in those days teachers were not too aware of the difficulties he, a visually impaired person, was experiencing.
But once there’s a will there’s a way and he pushed himself to learn as best as he could despite his obvious limitations.
“I did a lot of reading at the time, now fortunately my computer does a lot of the reading for me,” he chuckled.
Back in the 1950’s when Serieux became a teenager, most islanders were migrating to the motherland, England, but Serieux admitted that because of his condition he was a bit fearful about following the multitude.
“I was scared that I might go there and cannot survive. There I would be in a strange country and have no one, so I decided to stay at home.”
Then in 1961, he left his native St. Lucia for Barbados where he worked at a foundry which produced roller mills for sugarcane factories.
He described the move as successful, since the environment in the Land of the Flying Fish was much more advanced than in St. Lucia and it afforded him the opportunity to develop whatever skill he had at the time.
“Because Barbados was so well lit at nights, there were street lights, I was still able to ride a bicycle at nights,” he recalled.
After seven years at the foundry he left and found employment with a telephone company and it was here that his life took on a dimension that would lead him down the path of advocacy for the disabled.
“I must say that persons with disability are at a disadvantage. I lost my job at the foundry because they say that I could not see. I worked seven years there; I worked night and day; I drove a crane and I have never damaged a machine. But you know what, because I bang to speak up for my rights as a union man, I was seen as a threat,” Serieux explained.
In those days there was not much advocacy for the rights of disabled persons.
“There were people who did not even want to take disabled people out. They felt embarrassed to have a disabled person, whether it was a child, girl or boy. So you could see how discriminative it was,” Serieux pointed out.
At his new job, Serieux started as an exchange cleaner but he soon got an opportunity to study so as to improve himself and facilitate a promotion.
It was here that he saw discrimination against the disabled in its true sense.
In order to receive a promotion to technician, Serieux was required to drive a vehicle. The red flag was up.
“I did not intend to do it (drive a vehicle) because I don’t know when night will catch me, what can happen. So to be on the safe side I did not drive. And as a result I worked for 29 years as a line crewman. My status never changed because of my disability.”
By then his sight progressively got worst and he could no longer hide his disability.
“I worked in that place and I do more work than any other persons in there. But this situation led me to fight for the rights of persons with disability,” he argued.
He first became involved in an entity called the Barbados National Organization of the Disabled (BANOD) and was very, very active- travelling around the region championing the rights of the disabled.
It was at a Disabled People International conference in Dominica that advocating for disability rights really took on a meaning for him.
“That is what gave me the fire because when I got there, I saw disability at its highest. Because believe me, I myself did not believe there was anybody else like me. I took over the presidency of BANOD and I began to fight for better conditions, employment and so on for people with disability in Barbados.”
He led two massive marches in Bridgetown for the recognition of people with disabilities.
Serieux is satisfied that the Barbados Government has become fully aware and has accepted disabled persons.
After leaving BANOD, Serieux joined the Barbados Council for the Disabled and revitalized it from its state of dormancy.
At the time the Council was run by persons who were not disabled and according to Serieux, they did not truly understand that plight of persons with disability.
Under his leadership, the Council continued to grow and the Barbados Government began to recognise it because Serieux was “speaking with a very loud voice”.
“Within five years, the Council was fully recognized by the government of Barbados. As a matter of fact, we are financed by the government of Barbados. We are employing seven persons now, three of whom are disabled,” Serieux boasted.
Only recently Guyana has begun taking steps to empower persons with disability.
Some buildings have been constructed with modifications to accommodate the disabled especially those in wheelchairs.
Former Health Minister Dr. Leslie Ramsammy had announced that the administration was in the process of acquiring a special bus to transport the disabled.
Serieux said that in Barbados, such moves are already entrenched, since his organization had called on the government to be the leader in addressing the rights of the disabled.
“As a matter of fact, we are now giving certification to businesses for adjusting to accommodate persons with disability. Even the famous Harrison Cave we just gave them a plaque for ensuring that the facility is fully accessible to persons with disability,” he said.
He described Georgetown as a bustling city with many people and urged business to ensure that they cater for the disabled.
“I don’t want nobody to go and look for a bed for me if I’m in a wheelchair. I would like to go up there and look at my bed and chose it myself. But if you don’t provide accommodation for me to get up there then you’re discriminating against me. So you either have to put in elevator or you’ll have to put most of your commodities downstairs.”
He also pointed to the fact that unlike Barbados and many other Caribbean countries, most of the houses in Guyana carry bedrooms in the upper flat. This presents challenges for persons in wheelchairs.
“The streets in Georgetown for example, I don’t see sidewalks that are not taken over by vendors. I don’t see why a person in wheelchair could not go to the city at Christmas time. Should they drive on the road, when the cars are driving and blowing their horns and everybody don’t have time for you on the roads,” Serieux said.
The disabled persons advocate’s visit to Guyana will however not be complete without him meeting with some of his local counterparts to exchange ideas on how all persons with disabilities can benefit.
He said that disability does not discriminate and therefore disabled persons should be given every opportunity like everyone else, especially in terms of employment.