The Barbados Council for the Disabled (BCD) has championed the cause for increased accessibility and inclusiveness in Barbados for over 50 years and have recently celebrated their efforts at improving public awareness and shape planning policy across the island .
The BCD is particularly proud of an initive known as FAB: “Fully Accessible Barbados” which promotes accessibility amongst all societal stakeholders in Barbados and as a matter of importance for government.
The Government Minister of People Empowerment and Elder Affairs, Adrian Forde, recently announced its own “Access for All” programme, aimed at ensuring that government buildings are accessible to wheelchairs . But these efforts, while valiant, make little practical difference to wheelchair and other mobility-aid users if safe roads, paved walkways, and accessible public transport are not in place to enable them to reach locations that claim to be wheelchair-friendly.
Barbados’s principle planning and development policy document, Physical Development Plan Amended (PDP), specifically highlights the importance of accessibility and mobility and makes the connection between access, safety and “meaningful partiscipation in social and economic actvites across the island.”
Despite this, one can still find new locations and developments along the islands ‘platinum coast’ and luxury locations with no access to wheelchairs.
Delays in retrofitng existing transport fleets and government facilities may be understandable, but the absence of mandatory compliance with PDP standards for new builds highlights a significant gap in planning policy and raises the question and title of this article, “Where to push the wheelchairs?”.
The implementation of the PDP has revealed persistent tensions between the ambitions described in the policy and its guidelines and a lack of enforcement capacity, resource constraints, and competing economic pressures limiting its effectiveness . What would planning and development practices look like if these included Disability Access Assessments as well as Environment Impact Assessments.
Better still, what if Environment Impact Assessment included within its definition, accessibility from an otherly-abled perspective?
The BCD’s headquarters happens to be located immediately adjacent to the Governments Town Planning Department. In 2026, it is troubling that new buildings and access to public spaces are granted planning permission without compliance to international and regional standards that promote basic human rights. In Barbados the prevalence of amputations, reflecting the higher rates of noncommunicable diseases, particularly diabetes within the population compounds the issue of accessibility.
The Caribbean, like other regions, also faces an aging population. We may all need wheelchairs at some point.
Thus, the issue of where to push them is not one limited to those using wheelchairs today.
Article
1 50 years championing a cause accessed 21 August 2026
2 Access for all programme to improve disability access nationwide accessed 22 August 2026
3 https://barbados.org/bcwest.htm accessed 22 August 2026
4 Advancing the Rights of Persons with Disabilites in the Caribbean accessed 22 August 2026
5 IDB | Disability in the Caribbean: What We Know and How to Promote Inclusion accessed 22 August 2026
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