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TWO PARA-ATHLETES are hoping to make themselves and Barbados proud by copping spots at the para Pan American Games to be staged later this year. Sean Cooke and Christopher Gilkes, wheelchair athletes representing the Paralympic Association of Barbados, are at the Pan American Open Championships in Lima, Peru, competing in qualifier events for that chance. On Friday the pair took to the track and competed in the 800, 200 and 100 metres. Cooke placed first in both the 800 and 200, while Gilkes came third in the 100. “It was a great feeling especially to represent Barbados and I’m hoping we can do it again,” Gilkes told NATION SPORT after the event. (SDB Media)

An increase in bus fare, coupled with ongoing economic hardship, has put a huge dent in the operations of a charity that helps develop disabled young people’s skills to boost their job-seeking chances. The situation is so dire for the First Barbados Association for Supported Employment (First BASE) that the charity may soon close, said its supervisor, Joy-Ann Grazette-Corbin. “We do have financial challenges because our subvention doesn’t cover the cost of everything that we do and we do not have enough persons buying our products in order to support us or keep us going. “So we are looking forward to our fundraiser to keep us at least for a certain amount of time that we are able to give these young people their stipend and keep the place functioning,” She told Barbados TODAY. First BASE has been hosting an annual 5K Walk/Run in an effort to raise the much-needed funds. This year, the event, which attracts a $25 donation, will take place on June 8, starting at 4 p.m. at the Queens Park. The event will afford participants an opportunity to see the work of the students and support them, Grazette-Corbin said. But the registration has been very slow, though she expressed hope things would pick up in the coming weeks. Since bus fare went up by 75 per cent to $3.50 from mid-April, she noted that disabled students were finding it increasingly difficult to get to the Greenwich Village, St James charity each day. In a plea for help from Government and corporate Barbados, Grazette-Corbin said that  while the organisation did not make contact with Member of Parliament for the area, Minister of Home Affairs Edmund Hinkson, letters were submitted to Government explaining the situation and seeking help.  The organisation currently receives a small subvention from the Government’s Disabilities Unit.  She said:  “[The increase in bus fare] has put a great strain on us and what we are trying to do. Even up to the fact that right now we are not sure how we are getting paid this month. “They are still able to come, but like I said, right now our stipends are less than bus fare. So we are trying to figure out [to whom] do we speak. “We sent out some letters to Government to see what can be done, if they can travel free or what can happen for them to be able to get here.”  With some of the young adults coming from St Philip and Christ Church and needing to take two buses each way, even as they try often to take the cross-country ABC Highway bus, a new challenge of security for her students was being presented, she said. Grazette-Corbin told Barbados TODAY: “We had an incident…. This road is very lonely and two of our young ladies were walking and a gentleman in a truck started to harass them and he wouldn’t leave them alone. “When I contacted the police, the number of the truck was not registered to the person that was driving. It was actually registered to another car. So even in those circumstances we are really concerned. “We would love more government support, more government funding. But I also know that places that deal with people with disabilities would like an opportunity also because most of us have limited space.”  First BASE currently has Grazette-Corbin as the lone supervisor along with an acting supervisor catering to ten people. There is a waiting list of more than 200 trainees. “To be able to pay the persons that we need to take care of these young people is more than we can handle on our own. That is one thing we would like the Government to get involved in. If not being able to pay them, being able to provide a facility where I can have more than just ten people. We have a long waiting list,” she said. At least twice a week, the organisation sells a range of natural juices, baked products and crafts at the St James Parish Church. While most of their support comes from taxi operators and tourists, Grazette-Corbin said sales have been down. “Persons support children with disabilities, but then they seem to forget that these children become adults and they can’t just sit at home and do nothing,” she said. “They need to be productive and they can do stuff. When they are doing things, their parents are free to also be productive citizens in society.”  The charity provides training and social support for people with developmental disabilities, ages 18 and older, who are expected to leave with skills and get at least part-time work after a year, but they are forced to stay “as long as they like” because job opportunities have dwindled, she added. Article Compliments Barbados Today

DOORS OF ACCESS to the University of the West Indies (UWI) for disabled students have just opened wider. A new eight-seater van with wheelchair accessibility has been donated by the Maria Holder Memorial Trust. Student services manager Khaleid Holder said it was needed to ensure students with disabilities enjoyed the same level of access to university life. He added the new van replaced an aging vehicle that was prone to breaking down. “For us, one student missing a class was too much to bear. We were saddened. Simply put, education is indeed the most powerful way to change our world. This new vehicle enhances our accessibility and can help our students to change our world.” UWI Cave Hill principal, Professor Eudine Barriteau, called on Government to include disability accessibility among its proposed new electric buses to be added to the Transport Board’s fleet later this year. In thanking the trust for the van, she noted Cave Hill had been pursuing a policy of increasing access to disabled students since 1994, starting with a ramp at the main library, changing classes to ground level, investing in a lift at the 3Ws Pavilion, and addressing other measures for visually-and hearing-impaired students. Trustee with the Maria Holder Memorial Trust, Mary Brewster, said: “We know you are going to take care of this gift. This is not only for you but those coming after you.” (HH) Article compliments Nation News

Disabled Barbadians are begging employers to give them a piece of the jobs pie, president of the Barbados National Organisation of the Disabled Inc. (BARNOD), Colbert Ashby, has told Barbados TODAY. He said BARNOD was extremely concerned that members of the disabled community were finding it difficult to gain work, though many of them were highly qualified and able to perform effectively in the workplace. Though unable to give figures, Ashby said the percentage of jobless disabled people was too high not to notice. Ashby told Barbados TODAY: “We have a number of persons who have reached tertiary education level, but the only challenge that they have is that they have disabilities. So we want persons to be more sensitive to persons with disabilities who have highly qualified skills to work within the workforce.” Ashby highlighted the issue this morning during a press conference at Potters Centre in BIDC Building #2 on the Harbour Road, where he also acknowledged that the organisation was aware about the uncertainties of the economic climate, and the fact that people were being laid off in the public and private sector. But Ashby appealed to employers not to overlook the disabled but to give them the opportunity to show that they, too, can make a meaningful contribution to the workforce. He said; “Disability doesn’t mean inability. We have a member who has a degree in Public Sector Management from the University of the West Indies. He has completed that course many years ago and was unable to acquire a job. He was fortunate enough to attend two internships and he had an experience that I am sure he wouldn’t forget. “We have been encouraged to study. I think just recently, the results of the CXCs where persons of disabilities have sat, they got back very good results from those programmes. They may have a physical disability, but intellectually their brains are still working, and they may be able to utilize that brain within society that can be worthy to any employer.” At the news confererence, Swayne Brown, a Lodge School old scholar who has held a Bachelor’s Degree in Public Sector Reform since 2009, told reporters of his applying for several vacancies the over years. Brown said he was called to a few interviews but had not been successful. Brown told reporters: “I am still trying. All you can do is to try your best, and hope that somebody sees my talent, and not my disability. Don’t look at my disability; look at my talent and what I can do to help your organization and also to give back to my country Barbados. That is all I want. I want to be independent.” BARNOD announced “Walk A Mile In My Shoes”, a March 30 event designed to sensitise Barbadians about people with disabilities. Proceeds from the early-morning walk, scheduled to start at 6 a.m. at the Clock Tower, Garrison, St Michael, and end at Independence Square, are going to assist people with disabilities. Entertainer Anderson “Blood” Armstrong, who pledged support for the walk, encouraged Barbadians to support the initiative. “We need to be not insensitive about their needs and their situations. They are people just like us. So come out and support,” Armstrong said. Writer and comedian Eric Lewis said this would be his third year supporting the walk and encouraged the public to buy the event’s T-shirts. “We will be sensitising people to some of the challenges the disabled community face on a daily basis. You don’t have to be disabled to take part in the walk. Come out in your groups from your work places,” Lewis said.