Blind teacher wants more respect for disabled

Despite continued advocacy, Andre Fisher, technology teacher at The Salvation Army School for the Blind, believes that discrimination remains at the centre of the issues faced by persons living with disabilities.

"Discrimination is still a big issue even as it relates to going into a taxi. Some of the drivers feel that we are not going to pay our fare or we not moving quick enough to get into their cab. Even with the government buses we have challenges getting seats which are reserved for the disabled. You find that the general populous are not always receptive to us," said Fisher.

"Getting employed is another issue. Walking on the sidewalks and just accessing buildings is a major challenge because there could be infrastructure issues like holes in the sidewalks and so on. Sometimes persons who are blind don't want to go out," Fisher added.

Fisher was born with glaucoma and attended the Salvation Army School before moving on to Jamaica College. He later matriculated to The University of the West Indies (UWI), where he did a Bachelor of Science degree in marketing and operations management. He later worked at Heart/NSTA Trust for two years before moving on to his current place of employment.

"Life has its ups and down but it is mostly ups for me and one of the key things for me was acceptance. It was very important for me to embrace the challenges that may arise daily and know that they can be aborted or overcome. I have learnt that growing up, and, as a result, I am better able to carry out my daily business at my very best. We just need empowerment and needs to be encouraged so we can impress upon others that we are able to live and function like everyone else," he said.

PUBLIC EDUCATION NEEDED

Fisher was among the attendees at the seventh Regional Disability Studies Conference at The UWI. He told THE STAR that he is sometimes taken aback by perceptions of others towards the disabled community and urges the relevant authorities to provide more public education.

"[That] needs to be ramped up so that persons who are not visually impaired or disabled can understand how [members of] the community perform their daily tasks and so on. This way, certain questions and comments that are made don't need to be asked. The technology is there and advanced, but the attitudes and perceptions are still there. We just want the opportunity to do what we can to support our families. A lot of persons, because we have a disability, think we don't want relationships or want to stay in our community and form relationships," he added.

Professor Senator Floyd Morris, director of the UWI's Centre for Disability Studies, also raised concerns about the visually impaired community's high unemployment rate, and is imploring the government to enforce the policies supported by law for the public sector to employ more persons with disabilities.

"We have trained persons with disabilities who are not being employed across this country. He also called for the government to increase the money that it gives to the disability council; it is currently $15 million a year.

"But that is chicken crumbs in terms of providing for a certain amount of people with disabilities as it relates to self-employment. That needs to be increased to about $100 million," Morris said.