Demand for action on disabilities law

AS THE Lower House prepares to debate and pass the long-awaited Disabilities Regulation, 2021, Resolution today, Dr Floyd Morris, opposition spokesman on labour, social security, and special abilities, says the Government should set an early date for the implementation of the Disabilities Act.

The disabilities law was passed by Parliament in 2014 but the Government said it could not be introduced without the regulations.

The Disabilities Regulation, 2021, Resolution is listed on the parliamentary agenda for debate today.

Morris told The Gleaner on Monday that the implementation of the law was seven years off target. However, he welcomed debate on the regulations, noting that disabled persons were happy about this development.

“What is however important is for the country to get an indication as to when the minister will set the effective date for the legislation to come into effect because whilst the regulations are being debated and passed in the House of Representatives, I would not want to see another six months elapse and the legislation is not enforced,” Morris said.

Morris said the Government had blamed the delays in the implementation of the law on the fact that the regulations had not yet been completed and the codes of practice were not in place.

At least three codes of practice relating to employment, education, and healthcare are already in place, Morris added.

CHRISTMAS GIFT

With Disabilities Awareness Week being observed in December, Morris said he hoped the administration would give the disabled community a Christmas gift by implementing the legislation by year end.

Commenting on critical components of the law he wants to be introduced, Morris said the clause dealing with education should be implemented as a matter of urgency because many persons with disabilities had been excluded from the education system.

He argued that for persons with disabilities to be brought into the mainstream of society and progress, education has to play a fundamental role.

Morris said that the provision in the disabilities law dealing with employment should also be introduced speedily as several persons with disabilities who have graduated from tertiary institutions with degrees and were qualified could not get a job owing to issues of discrimination against them.

“I know a young man who graduated with upper second-class honours and he has to be selling coconut drops and those things on the street in order to survive, and this is the sort of hostile environment that is out there towards persons with disabilities in terms of employment,” he said.