International Day Of Persons With Disabilities

The UN International Day of Persons with Disabilities is today [Dec 3] and the theme for this year’s UN International Day of Persons with Disabilities is: “Break Barriers, Open Doors: for an inclusive society and development for all.”

The Minister of Health and Seniors Patricia Gordon-Pamplin, marked the occasion by recognizing the community’s accomplishments since November 2012 in achieving various targets set under Goal 12 of the Well Bermuda Strategy regarding disabilities.

One of these targets was to, “Establish research to investigate needs”.

“The National Accessibility Advisory Council [NAAC] was tasked to provide the Ministry of Health & Seniors with information about the provision of forensic services in Bermuda and to make recommendations for improvement,” the Minister said.

“NAAC chaired a Forensic Services Meeting for all mental health stakeholders on February 25th 2013 and the transition team, a multi-agency taskforce, assisted 16 persons with developmental disabilities transition to a different Government service across their life span continuum of care.”

Another target was to “Increase employment for persons with disabilities.”

“From October 1st, 2013, Opportunity Workshop [OWS] and Orange Valley Centre [OVC] began providing revamped and integrated services to clients with intellectual disabilities living in the community,” explained the Minister.

“Additionally, The Learning Disabilities Association of Bermuda [LDAB] hosted their Annual Conference on November 15th and 16th, entitled From Disability to Possibility. The guest speaker was Dr. Patrick Schwarz whose theme was the Power of Inclusive Classrooms.

“Further, The Department of Education completed the Inclusive and Special Education 2013 Discussion Paper. This document was a collaborative effort with input from students, parents, non-profit organisations , quangos, Ministry of Education, school staff, other Government Ministries and various interested or affected parties.”

A spokesperson said, “In terms of reaching the target of “Establishing awareness campaigns” much was achieved in the past year:

• In December 2012 Bermuda hosted the 4th Annual Built Environment Access Awards, which are given to persons and organizations in recognition of their contribution to making buildings and facilities accessible;
• Staff from the National Office for Seniors and the Physically Challenged (NOSPC) attended Age Friendly Communities conferences abroad and incorporated the ideas learned here into presentations to local groups. As a result, a Universal Design Workshop is planned for February 2014;
• The Bermuda Society for the Blind held three workshops on various aspects of living with vision loss, a technology fair and training for professionals entitled My Client is Blind;
• In the fifth collaboration between the Ministry of Health and Seniors and the Bermuda Society of Arts (BsoA) related to disability, The Art of Opportunity ran from September 20th to October 9th 2013 which showcased arts and crafts made by clients of Opportunity Workshop and Orange Valley Centre;
• Mental Health Awareness Week ran from October 14th to 18th 2013, with the aim of raising community awareness on Mental Health issues.

“The final target of “Providing assistance to adaptive sports programmes” also saw much progress made over the past 12 months.”

“WindReach Bermuda’s mission is to enrich the quality of life for people with special needs,” said the Minister.

“Along with their ongoing programmes, they also organized a professional development conference here on November 30th and December 1st 2012; hosted an Adaptive Sports Banquet on February 23rd 2013; and welcomed hundreds to their Annual Walk ‘n Roll fundraiser on March 16th 2013.

“Ministry support was given to WindReach’s Adaptive Sports Programme in 2012/2013 which enabled multiple adaptive sports to be offered locally and assisted the fledging Bermuda Boccia Association to be able to compete abroad in April and August 2013.”

The spokesperson continued, saying “Ministry support was also given to the Bermuda Paralympic Association [BPARAS] to hold a presentation ceremony and reception to meet Bermuda’s past, present and future Paralympians on February 22nd 2013. Along this vein Paralympian Jessica Lewis received an Achievement Award at the Annual Sports Awards on March 16th 2013.

“And, finally, the Women in Sport Expo was held in April 2013 where the value of ‘sport for all’ was highlighted by the presence of the Bermuda Paralympic Association. Two of the keynote speakers were athletes who had represented their countries at the Paralympics.

“Over one billion people, or approximately 15 per cent of the world’s population, live with some form of disability. Around the world, persons with disabilities face physical, social, economic and attitudinal barriers that exclude them from participating fully and effectively as equal members of society.

“The commemoration of this year’s International Day of Persons with Disabilities provides an opportunity to further raise awareness of disability and accessibility as a cross cutting development issue and further the global efforts to promote accessibility, remove all types of barriers, and to realize the full and equal participation of persons with disabilities in society and shape the future of development for all.”

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