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Differently challenged youths speaking out
By Jeff Trotman
Persons with disability have the right to marriage like every other human being, President of the Georgetown Young Voices Club, Stacy Johnson stressed last Saturday, at the Mackenzie Sports Club.
He was in a group of 35 young people, mostly from Georgetown, who staged a march and rally at Mackenzie, Linden, to launch the Linden Chapter of the Young Voices Club, which restricts membership to only disabled persons between the ages of 16 and 26.
Stacy Johnson, Georgetown President
President of the Linden Chapter, Tishaun Rodney, said that launching the Linden Young Voices Club with a march through the town was intended “to make people in Linden see people walking around with disability.”
He added that a lot of people with disability are not usually seen walking in Linden. According to him, the activity would motivate the disabled to make more public appearances as well as make the wider public more accustomed to seeing disabled persons going about business like any other person.
The march commenced from the Five Corner and proceeded along David Rose Avenue, Republic Avenue and Greenheart Street to the Mackenzie Sports Club Ground for a brief rally.
The Georgetown club was launched in 2008 while the Berbice Chapter was launched last year. The groups meet once a month in their respective host communities to discuss matters that affect persons with disability with a view to empowering them and improving their quality of life and lifestyles.
The groups also engage in capacity building of their members, who are generally sheltered and are not exposed to a lot of activities in their respective communities.
Discrimination
“As human beings, we all find someone that we love and would want to be with for the rest of our lives,” Johnson said. “Everyone has the right to marriage. Persons with disability must not be exceptions. We are equal and we deserve to have the right to marriage.”
The President of the Georgetown Young Voices Club added that, former President Bharrat Jagdeo signed an Act in 2010 that enshrined that “persons with disability have rights like any other person living in Guyana”. He said the march through the streets of Linden was intended to make the Linden public “aware of these rights and what they entail”.
Noting that a lot of work is needed with respect to the right for jobs for persons with disability, Johnson said, “First, you have to look after the education because if you don’t have education and you don’t have training you can’t acquire a job.”
He said the Young Voices Club attempts to groom its members to be independent members of society after they leave the club.
Meanwhile, Vice President of the Linden Young Voices Club, Quasia Lyle, in calling on the general population to be aware of the club and what it stands for also issued an appeal for the general public to
Some participants at the march and rally that launched the Linden Young Voices Club on Saturday.
refrain from discriminating against persons with disability.
Lyle said she suffers from glaucoma and has been the butt of insults and verbal abuses from people on occasions when she bumps into them, particularly in crowded places such as the market and bus stands.
The secondary school student said that even at school very little or no consideration is given to her poor eyesight as her requests for her examination papers to have bigger letters than normal, are generally ignored.
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