MAGNIFICENT MONA
Students and administrators welcome disabled in specially constructed school
ANDRÉ COLEMAN is one of a number of students who have benefited from the disabled-friendly environment at Mona High School.
Fourteen-year-old André was born with the birth defect spina bifida, due to his mother being diabetic. This resulted in both of his legs being bent under, forcing him to move about on his hands.
Due to André’s disability, he struggled to get into a primary school as, according to his mother, Hermine Coleman, the principal and the gradeone teacher were opposed to him enrolling, forcing the Ministry of Education to intervene.
When it was time for him to matriculate to high school, he was placed at Penwood High but the construct of the facility was not conducive to disabled students.
The education ministry once again stepped in and relocated André to the St Andrew-based Mona High School, where he was welcomed with open arms by students and teachers alike. “The children love him,” said the beaming mother. “As far as I have heard, they spoil him. There is always somebody around to push him at lunchtime, and in the evenings they push him to the bus stop,” added Coleman.
Principal of the school, Keven Jones, revealed that there is one particular fifth-former who looks out for André daily, but the other six
disabled students at the institution are also well taken care of by the school population.
“The students do not discriminate. They welcome them,” said Jones, who has hired two additional members of staff to attend specifically to the needs of the disabled children.
“When I came here, I recognised that we didn’t have an employee dedicated to caring specifically for children with physical disability,” Jones told The Sunday Gleaner.
“So I wrote to the ministry and asked maybe if we could employ somebody to assist them with things like going to the bathroom, and the ministry responded and provided us with two ladies; one is for the girls and one is for the boys.”
Jones said while the disabled students are not treated with any type of bias or preference, extra effort is made, where necessary, to accommodate them. “We have a young lady who is in a wheelchair, but she is visually impaired, so what the teachers do is pass on the notes to the caregivers, for example, those at Salvation Army, and they would make them into big prints and give her. “And we give them extra time when doing teacher-made tests and exams and completing assignments because they don’t work as fast as the other students,” said the principal. BUILT TO ACCOMMODATE THE DISABLED
The physical infrastructure of the school also lends support to these disabled students, as the compound is flat, and head girl Joe-lee Williams theorises that the impression that the school was built to accommodate the disabled community has aided in the level of acceptance.
“Maybe because the students come in and see them, it is like they have literally been a part of the school since the school was made,” said Williams.
“So it is just one regular school where everybody can get along fine. They’ll rush to push them (disabled) to classes and back.
“They (disabled) also get along fine with the (other) students and are quite open. They don’t see themselves too different from others. They laugh, they play with them and they even show them tricks on their wheelchairs,” added Williams.
André says his favourite subject is Spanish and he wants to become an engineer. He is thankful for how most persons have treated him.
“I don’t find anything that is challenging for me,” said André, who enjoys playing football.
“I can do everything that anybody else can do; just that I can’t walk on my feet.”
André, however, wishes he had a computer at home and a second-hand car so that one of his brothers could take him to school. He currently has to leave home by 5:45 each morning and takes three buses to get from Olympic Gardens to the eastern St Andrew-based school.
“He takes one of the Hiace buses to Three Miles and then takes any of the Portmore buses up to Half-Way Tree, and then a next bus to school,” his mother explained.
But she noted that this is not a problem as: “There is always somebody willing to help him and carry his bags.”
High public transport costs hurting
DESPITE THE 2014 passing of the Disabilities Act, which mandates the minister with responsibility for transport to ensure that public passenger vehicles cater to members of this community, disabled persons in Hanover are facing hell.
The members of the disabled community in Hanover say they are being pushed deeper into poverty due to the huge expenses they incur when travelling on some public passenger vehicles in the parish.
It is an issue that Anthony Bingham, president of the recently established Hanover Disability Association, said his organisation will have to tackle over the coming months.
COSTLY, UNFAIR
According to Bingham, not only is it costly to travel but very inconvenient as the public passenger vehicles in the parish are not equipped to facilitate the disabled.
“Some persons, because of the disabilities they suffer, may take up more than one space so they have to pay for additional spaces. Some persons, maybe because of the illness that they suffer, have to charter taxis from where they live to go where they are going, and it is very hard.
“It is unfair when these disabled persons have to travel from within five or 10 miles out of Lucea and have to pay two times their fares and pay fares as the regular commuters,” said Bingham. “In Kingston, persons who are disabled pay half-fare, but in Hanover, the disabled have to pay full fare because there is no structured bus system in Hanover.
“Until we have a structured system, or if it can be nationalised to say that persons who suffer disabilities have to pay half-fare or three-quarters and take off the burden to pay full fare, they will continue to suffer,” added Bingham.
He argued that they should be given a fare subsidy as many are unable to find gainful employment and have to depend on friends or neighbours to survive.
For Balford Bowen, a diver of Green Island, who is wheelchairbound, his challenge lies with the buses that ply the Lucea, Hanover, to Montego Bay, St James, route.
Bowen said he has had to pay up to three times the regular fare as the drivers contend that he uses several seats.
He argued that one solution would be to introduce a statesponsored bus system in the parish, similar to the Jamaica
Urban Transit Company, but accepts that this could be difficult and is determined to try to survive as best as possible.
“Mi stop taxi and jump inna it
and dem put mi wheelchair inna di back and mi gone. The taxi driver dem all right,” said Bowen.
“People with disabilities who have skills deserve more than just moving in a wheelchair. They need scooters where you can just go around and sell and help yourself.
“Because me did have one (scooter) and me even lift up mi bag a flour pon it inna supermarket and come back a mi shop. Since it bruck dung, a now mi feel disabled. The parts wear out and mi can’t get dem a Jamaica, and a problem fi get it overseas,” added Bowen.
Yvonne Kerr, who wears a prosthetic leg, told The Sunday Gleaner that she avoids public transportation as much as possible, as some bus drivers are reluctant to provide assistance, or even refuse to carry disabled persons.
Kerr is adamant that disabledfriendly buses with ramps are needed in the parish.
“It is compulsory I travel on public transportation; someone takes me around. But some of the times I have to. Even last week I took public transportation to Hopewell and it was a challenge because when I go out by the park, some of the drivers did not want to take me.
“I had my walking stick but proper seating was not there, and I wanted them to drop me by the plaza to cross the road or help me to cross the road and they said they couldn’t bother,” complained Kerr.