Media Centre

Davio Harding of the Derrick Smith School and Vocational Centre is an athlete not to be denied. Last year, he scored five goals and was named Most Outstanding Senior Player as his team fell short of winning the Special Olympics Barbados National Games Football Championship. The 2017 senior title went to the Alma Parris Memorial Secondary School, but the closure of that school left the title open this year, as well as another opportunity for Davio to capture the crown. He took full advantage of that opportunity as he scored four goals in leading the Derrick Smith School and Vocational Center to the Division A Senior crown at the recent Special Olympics Barbados National Games Football Championship. Second place in the division was captured by the Learning Centre, with the Ann Hill School taking third. There was also a blistering performance in the Division B Senior competition, with Renako Bellamy of the Ann Hill School scoring six goals as he led his team to the Division B Senior title. That division was rounded out with the Derrick Smith School taking second, the Challenor Creative Arts and Training Centre in third and the Special Olympics Outreach and Skills Training Centre finishing in fourth place. Among the younger players in the Special Olympics Barbados National Games Football Championship, all eyes were on Torian Chase of the Erdiston Special School. His four goals led to the upset of the defending junior division champion, the Ellerton Primary Unit and earned him the title of Junior Division Most Outstanding Player. Ellerton finished second in the junior division. The intellectually disabled athletes of Special Olympics Barbados are being allowed to build and display their skills as a result of the generous support of The Maria Holder Memorial Trust. In keeping with its mission “to improve the quality of life of vulnerable people”, the Trust provided the primary funding for the Special Olympics Barbados National Games Football Championship. In addition, The Maria Holder Memorial Trust is giving like financial support to the major Special Olympics sports event of the year, the Special Olympics Barbados Track and Field National Games and the Special Olympics Barbados National Games in cricket and swimming. The support provided by The Maria Holder Memorial Trust helps create the individual confidence and the societal structure needed for the understanding, acceptance and inclusion of persons with intellectual disability. *Photo tag: “Shamar Smith of the Special Olympics Outreach and Skills Training Centre defends an attack from Raymond Delphi of the Challenor Creative Arts and Training Centre.” Photo compliments of A3KD.

The disabled community is appealing to the authorities to do all that is possible to make it easier for them to get around on public transportation. President of Wheelchair Foundation of Barbados Inc Lionel Weekes said this morning it was time that the public transportation system was equipped to accommodate the physically disabled. “We would like the private sector as well as the Transport Board to look at the provision of a number of buses which are developed specifically to deal with the needs of the disabled where they can get on board and disembark very easily,” Weekes said at a presentation ceremony at which his organization received a cash donation from the Massy Foundation. The foundation provides wheelchairs and other assistance, including prostheses, to help disabled and needy people move about, it said on its Facebook page. Weekes explained that the lack of adequately equipped buses was proving costly for members of the community, who sometimes have to dish out as much as $50 to go on an errand. “Now when you consider that the average person has to pay $2 for a ride but this disabled person in order to be able to attend this activity has to pay that amount and in many cases they are not working so the whole question of affordability of public transportation arises,” he said. “A nation that is aspiring to be advanced and so on has to look at these social and developmental dimensions of what they are attempting to do in the country,” Weekes added. Meantime, Keith Yearwood, the foundation’s public relations officer, said he was hoping Prime Minister Mia Mottley would keep her pledge to fully equip new Transport Board buses so they can accommodate the physically disabled. “ One thing I heard the Prime Minister [say] is that when they import these buses that they would be equipped for wheelchairs and we would be very happy about that because it is something that we have been championing,” Yearwood said, adding that members of the disabled need not be prisoners in their own homes. “ We need to get those persons out there, out of the confines of the walls of their house and into the community to really enjoy Barbados. So that is why we are working assiduously so that all of the persons who are shut in can come out and really enjoy Barbados once more,” he stressed.

This Saturday, when 18 intellectually disabled young adults don caps and gowns, they will take a significant step on their journey to full inclusion in the Barbadian society. The graduates of the Special Olympics Barbados Outreach and Skills Training Programme, funded by the European Union, are all Special Olympics athletes. They have successfully completed the 2017-2018 academic year, which included courses in basic mathematics, basic english, agricultural studies, housekeeping, life skills, vocational skills and computer studies. When Valedictorian Tiffany Branch addresses the graduation ceremony, to be held Saturday, July 7, 10 am, at the Church of God, Chapman Street, Bridgetown, it will not be the first time the athlete has excelled. She was a gold and silver medal winning track athlete at the most recent Special Olympics World Summer Games, held in 2015 in Los Angeles. Joining Tiffany will be her fellow graduates Denecia Asgill, Narresa Best, Sherrie-Ann Burnett, Danielle Chambers, Nashon Chase, Keisha Cruickshank, Alana Forde, Sherwin Gibbons, Lee-Ann Gittens, Jelecia Henry, Felicia Mc Lennan, Shanice Morris, Tricia O’Neal, Angia Peters (absentia), Pedro Phillips, Shamar Smith, Roseann Tull and Natasha Ward. This is the second graduating class from the Special Olympics Barbados Outreach and Skills Training Programme and Centre, located on Harbour Road in Bridgetown. The European Union funded programme trains intellectually disabled persons, 16 years of age and older, equipping them to apply for and obtain positions within the Barbadian work force and promotes understanding, acceptance and inclusion. The public is invited to attend the graduation ceremony and support persons with intellectual disability.