Minister Acknowledges Past Mistakes Towards Disabled Community, Pushes for Change

The wrongs committed against members of the disabled community are being corrected, says Minister of People Empowerment and Elder Affairs Kirk Humphrey.

As he piloted a resolution to approve the National Policy For Improving The Lives Of Persons With Disabilities and the 2023 National Report of the National Advisory Committee, Humphrey apologised to members of that community while stating that the resolution is among the most important work that Parliament can do in Barbados.

“I apologise to the disabled community on behalf of every single Government that has led this country, because it would be fair to say that in a country that promises so much to ordinary people, members of the disabled community can legitimately say that they were denied the benefit from that promise. That kind of distorted development is not the kind of development that we wish for this country . . . .

“But we hope with the work that we are doing as a Government, it is clear that we are determined to rectify these wrongs.

“The life that should have been afforded to many of them has been denied, not by virtue of a disability, but by virtue of an inability of the society to recognise that they have tremendous potential and that we should have tapped on that potential a long, long time ago. That is the work that is now before this Parliament,” Humphrey said.

The debate commenced before specially invited members with disabilities and their supporters yesterday after an amendment to the resolution allowed for debate of the policy as well as the report from the committee which Humphrey said was colloquially known as the [Edmund] Hinkson Commission.

“Clearly, the policy presents some remedy to a number of wrongs that have been visited on persons with disabilities in this country. We also felt it important to debate the report of the advisory committee, because that was the foundation work for the policy and indeed that foundation work saw a level of consultation that I think is unprecedented through the history of Barbadian politics and

of Barbadian policy,” Humphrey said.

Horror experienced

Many members of the advisory committee, he pointed out, either have relatives with disabilities or children, or they themselves have disabilities and the report speaks in detail to the horror experienced by members of the community.

In thanking Hinkson, the minister said it was not about politicians glorifying politicians, because support came from both sides of Parliament throughout.