SUNDAY 5TH APRIL, 2015 – UWI TODAY
13
Over the years many
individuals have made efforts
to change the mind-set and the structures of Trinidad
society in relation to disability. However, while there is
often goodwill and sympathy, there has been no cohesive
leadership to ensure real transformation. Yes, parents no
longer abandon their children with Down syndrome at the
gates of the Lady Hochoy Home, but it is still likely that a
person with a disability will be stared at, excluded or made
to feel both inept and inhuman.
Dr Jean Antoine-Dunne, who founded NODES (The
UWI Network and Outreach for Disability Education
and Sensitisation) in 2014, feels that the many dispersed
disability activists here on the St Augustine Campus, if
they work together, can provide a powerful lobby group to
motivate the public and to ensure policy change and true
inclusion in education, the workplace and community.
The conference “Towards Social Integration: Rights,
Roles, Recognition for Persons with Disabilities”, scheduled
for April 23 and 24, is a key strategy in this group’s activism.
It focuses on human rights and on changing public
perception about the capabilities of persons with disabilities
who, by and large, experience pity rather than equity. They
have few rights. The Equal Opportunities Act in its current
form may be seen to actively discriminate against persons
with disabilities in that it gives much leeway to employers
to refuse employment to persons with disabilities.
There is no centre to which parents can be directed for
speech therapy, physiotherapy or counselling. In Trinidad
those who can afford to do so, travel abroad for help.
Neither is there a structure to support persons who
seek to be educated in the mainstream. There have been
successive draft policies on education of persons with
special needs, but no policy. There are few posts for special
education teachers in mainstream schools, despite the fact
that UTT has a degree programme in Special Education
and there is a desperate need for special teachers in many
schools. A recent announcement by the Ministry proposes
to redeploy one hundred and nine of these teachers to fill
the need of students referred to the Ministry of Education.
How this will be structured is yet to be announced.
The focus on the need for change and leadership reflects
the activismof the foundingmembers of NODES who came
originally from three faculties: Humanities and Education,
Science and Technology, and Social Sciences.
Leading the Charge
NODES hosts landmark disability conference
B y D r J e a n A n t o i n e - D u n n e
ADVOCACY
For Dr Shirin Haque of the Faculty of Science and
Technology, the focus is persons with obsessive behaviour
disorder and depression. Dr Innette Cambridge runs the
Disability Studies Unit in the Faculty of Social Sciences and
organised the first “Think Tank” on disability in the region.
Her pioneering work led to the inauguration of the unit she
now heads and to the development of special services for
persons with disabilities at The UWI. It is no surprise that
her former student, Jacqueline Huggins, also a member of
NODES, is the coordinator of the UWI Academic Support/
Disabilities Liaison Unit.
Dr Benjamin Braithwaite, who is a linguist atThe UWI,
runs a class at the Lloyd Best Institute in English Language
acquisition for the deaf, and he and Dr Paula Morgan are
both lecturers in the Faculty of Humanities. The network
includes Joanna Owen, Major David Benjamin (Director
of The UWI’s Sports and Physical Education Centre) and
science graduate Anil Waithe.
Their varied interest groups are reflected in the
programme. EileenDunne, who will address the conference
on April 23 about her right to independence and a good life,
has Down syndrome and has attendedmainstreamprimary,
secondary and tertiary education in Ireland. She is the
recipient of many awards, including a Student of the Year
Award from Cavan Institute. She is also a member of the
National Advisory Council of Down Syndrome in Ireland.
Professor ElizabethHarry who founded the Immortelle
Children’s Centre, will speak on “Integration is a two-way
street: Building reciprocity among communities” at the
opening ceremony. Professor GerardHutchinson, a leading
psychiatrist in the region, will give a feature address entitled:
“Lifting the burden – the future of disability” on April 24.
The conference also hosts a roundtable discussion
on “Mental health incidence, recognition and education
in Trinidad and Tobago”. This is intended to generate
discussion on what is called the “invisible” disability.
The first roundtable deals with the key idea of the
conference, participation and integration, and a number
of well-known figures have been invited to participate,
including Barbadian Senator Kerry Ann Ifill, Dr Beverly
Beckles, the CEO of Down Syndrome Ireland, Mr Patrick
Clarke, and president of Down Syndrome Family Network,
Mr Glen Niles.
The conference looks at the role of ministry and
includes the Mother General of the Dominican Order, Sr
Therese Antoine OP, Mikkel Trestrail, Doreen Anderson of
the Baha’i Faith and representatives from the Muslim and
Hindu communities.
There are several workshops and papers on topics
as varied as speech pathology, services for the blind and
visually impaired and the deaf, sports and state services,
inclusive education, sexual abuse of womenwith disabilities,
and discrimination in areas such as employment. Free
events include the premiere of the documentary DisAbled
Mislabeled.
Persons wishing to attend the full sessions, and
workshops should register online by April 14. There is
a nominal fee of TT$300. The public is invited to attend
feature lectures and roundtable discussions free of charge.
This is possible in part through the patronage of persons
such as theHonorary Counsel of Ireland, Mr BrianO’Farrell.
The Campus Principal, Professor Clement Sankat,
has donated ten scholarships for persons with disabilities.
Applications for this grant should be clearlymarkedGRANT
aid and addressed to Jacqueline.huggins @sta.uwi.edu
Website address
sta.uwi.edu/conferences/15/towardssocialintegration/
From left are Dr Innette Cambridge, Dr Benjamin Braithwaite, Dr Jean Antoine-Dunne,
Jacqueline Huggins and Dr Paula Morgan.
