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JANELLE KNIGHT is the winner of the 13th annual Caribbean Catalyst Inc. regg Nurse Memorial Scholarship. Knight, 21, is pursuing medical studies at the University of the West Indies at Cave Hill Campus. The runner-up is Gabriella Bovell-Niles (below), also 21, a psychology and sociology student at Cave Hill. The presentation was made this morning by Senator Kerryann Ifill at the Caribbean Catalyst River Road, St Michael office. “Here I am today, grateful that there are persons who stop to acknowledge those who excel despite these limitations. I thank you,” Knight told the gathering. The scholarship is presented to a person with a disability who is pursuing post-secondary education at a recognised tertiary institution. Nurse was the first person with a disability to graduate with honours from Cave Hill in 1997. He died in at age 27 after a battle with muscular dystrophy. His mother Linelle and brother Ricky were present for the ceremony. The latter painted a picture of a younger brother who was never held back by his disability, making friends wherever he went and constantly excelling. Nurse said he saw some of his brother’s personality in this year’s finalists.  “… that is where my challenge will come to you. You have to continue to change the entire environment around you and force them to catch up to you; whether it is your creativity as a person; whether it is that passion and that drive. Force them to learn what your experience is like and to really broaden their thinking to suit,” he said. Knight, who is hearing impaired, hopes to specialise in orthopaedic surgery and dreams of being a doctor on the staff of an NBA team. Bovell-Niles’ right arm was amputated below the elbow after she was involved in a vehicular accident in December 2015. She wants to be a Special Education Teacher and speech language pathologist. Article Compliments: The Nation Newspaper

JANELLE KNIGHT is the winner of the 13th annual Caribbean Catalyst Inc. regg Nurse Memorial Scholarship. Knight, 21, is pursuing medical studies at the University of the West Indies at Cave Hill Campus. The runner-up is Gabriella Bovell-Niles (below), also 21, a psychology and sociology student at Cave Hill. The presentation was made this morning by Senator Kerryann Ifill at the Caribbean Catalyst River Road, St Michael office. “Here I am today, grateful that there are persons who stop to acknowledge those who excel despite these limitations. I thank you,” Knight told the gathering. The scholarship is presented to a person with a disability who is pursuing post-secondary education at a recognised tertiary institution. Nurse was the first person with a disability to graduate with honours from Cave Hill in 1997. He died in at age 27 after a battle with muscular dystrophy. His mother Linelle and brother Ricky were present for the ceremony. The latter painted a picture of a younger brother who was never held back by his disability, making friends wherever he went and constantly excelling. Nurse said he saw some of his brother’s personality in this year’s finalists.  “… that is where my challenge will come to you. You have to continue to change the entire environment around you and force them to catch up to you; whether it is your creativity as a person; whether it is that passion and that drive. Force them to learn what your experience is like and to really broaden their thinking to suit,” he said. Knight, who is hearing impaired, hopes to specialise in orthopaedic surgery and dreams of being a doctor on the staff of an NBA team. Bovell-Niles’ right arm was amputated below the elbow after she was involved in a vehicular accident in December 2015. She wants to be a Special Education Teacher and speech language pathologist. Article Compliments: The Nation Newspaper

THE LOOMING punishment for unkind drivers who park in spots reserved for the disabled is being hailed by the Barbados Council for the Disabled (BCD). The umbrella body for about 17 organisations representing people who suffer with disabilities was reacting to news last week by Minister of Transport and Works Michael Lashley about an amendment to the Road Traffic Act and Regulations. The amended law would mean that offenders who stop, stand or park a vehicle in the specially designated space could be fined up to $500 if they do not have a valid parking permit from the Licensing Authority prominently displayed. The penalty is also attached to the blocking of the dropped kerb, the lowered section of the sidewalk that facilitate the movement of disabled person. President of the BCD, Maria Holder Small, said the body had waited long for the legislation that would give teeth to what some companies had already instituted and so deal with some of the selfishness of motorists. “We have some of the disabled who drive; it is not only wheelchair users who drive. Many persons benefit from those parking IDs; we have persons with pacemakers who are not able to walk the long distance or even the short distance from the vehicle to the door,” she said, adding that the elderly were also accommodated. Holder Small, who has been president for the last two years, added that it was comforting to know the disabled have not been forgotten. She said last year the disabled community presented a petition with more than 12 000 signatures seeking legal recognition of the parking spaces. “I eagerly look forward to these amendments,” she said. She explained that she had not walked since 2006 as a result of multiple sclerosis, but even before then she would chide able-bodied people for using the designated parking spaces and ask them to be “considerate” and think of those who needed the spaces. “So I guess a little empathy is what we need here,” Holder Small said. With the changes in the offing, Holder Small said the council would intensify its education programme to make residents aware of the new law and to be conscious of what the logos and blue spaces really represented. (AC)