ine BANKS and other business institutions are being urged to introduce policies that would lead to a greater inclusion of members of the disabled community who Sharon Ffolkes-Abrahams, the junior minister in the industry ministry, said are being denied the opportunity to make a greater contribution to the countrys economy. We have articulated that the banks put forward a voluntary code of conduct with regard to disability, which, until today, has not been forthcoming, Ffolkes-Abrahams said as she made her contribution to a debate on the Disabilities Act in the House of Representatives yesterday. The bill, if passed by the Senate and signed into law, will provide the framework for the fight against discrimination on the grounds of disabilities. It proposes, among other things, that no employer should discriminate against a person on the grounds of disability if the person is qualified for the job. The bill also makes provision for persons with a disability to be entitled to the enjoyment of privileges, interest, benefits, and treatments. Ffolkes-Abrahams told fellow legislators that with this piece of legislation, banks and all businesses are advised and encouraged to introduce voluntary policies that will protect the disabled - provide ramps for entrances and open their doors for engagement for persons with disabilities to enter the business world. PAVING THE WAY Labour and Social Security Minister Derrick Kellier, in piloting the bill, said 10 per cent of Jamaicans are disabled and argued that the bill, when passed into law, would pave the way for all persons within the society to make a contribution to economic growth and national development. The task that falls on all of us in this honourable House, and the wider society generally, is to make the political, social, and economic changes necessary to enable the greater inclusion of persons with disabilities into the mainstream of the society, Kellier said. Pearnel Charles, the opposition spokesman on labour, said 82 per cent of persons with disabilities were living below the poverty line and every effort should be made to reverse this reality and remove discrimination. But even as he spoke about the possibilities being created by the new bill, some members of the disabled community who turned up at Gordon House to witness the debate had to struggle up the stairs that lead to the gallery. A few who came by wheelchair had to stay downstairs. When operational, a substantial deployment of resources will be required for the full roll-out of policies under a bill aimed at giving greater inclusion to the disabled community, but Kellier said the passage of the Disabilities Act yesterday was not rhetoric or a set of platitudes. The bill, which has been in gestation for over a decade, received bipartisan support in the House when it was debated yesterday. It will require the State to transform the Jamaica Council for Persons with Disabilities into a body corporate, which will mean it has to be funded from the public purse. Kellier acknowledged that the body will have to be given the resources to build or install disabled-friendly facilities, employ technical staff, and maintain a system of monitoring breaches of the act. In addition, a disabilities tribunal, similar to that of the Industrial Disputes Tribunal, is to be created, and it, too, will have to be staffed with what the minister called qualified persons, who can objectively and professionally process the various complaints that will be reported to it. But notwithstanding the costs, Kellier and other legislators said the passage of the Disabilities Act represents a watershed moment in the countrys history. Where a public or commercial building is constructed on or after the day that the act is brought into operation, the owner or agent is duty bound to ensure that it is readily accessible to the disabled, built in accordance with the National Building Code, and designed in such a way as to make the common areas accessible to persons with disability. Similarly, the act places a requirement on the transport minister to ensure that as far as practicable, there is provision of public transport vehicles that are accessible and usable by persons with disabilities. Dr Morais Guy, minister without portfolio in the transport and works
Posted on: Wed, 23 Jul 2014 11:12:32 +0000
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