Blind Welfare calls for all-inclusive education

Access to healthcare is difficult for people with blindness. So the TT Blind Welfare Association brought access to healthcare to its community.

The association held a health fair at its Corner Duke and Edward Street office where its members were treated to massage therapy (Best Massages) from the HEROES (Health, Emergency Rescue, Occupational safety and Environmental Services), blood pressure testing, HIV/Aids testing, diabetes testing among others. The association partnered with the North West Regional Health Authority to host the fair.

Kenneth Suratt, the association’s executive director, believes access to better health care and a better life for people with blindness starts with a more inclusive education system.

Proper health care for people with disabilities in TT was admittedly difficult. “Just to exercise is a challenge alone,” Suratt said. “Sometimes to go out there is difficult. Long ago they never used to rob blind people. Now they robbing everybody.” Challenges such as the cost of a gym membership as well as getting to the gym were also issues for the association’s members. But the association has programmes to address some of these issues, such as its weekly yoga classes. The association, marking its 104th anniversary on May 18, is also hosting its own Blindness Awareness month as well as its annual concert, Jewels of the Evening 5, at the National Academy for the Performing Arts (NAPA) on May 20.

Speaking to Newsday on May 4, Suratt said, “This is an annual event. At Blind Welfare, we have a health and safety committee and this is one of the events we have to ensure persons who are blind can measure their health.

“A report is generated. When the report is generated we advise our membership, our employees of the situation and we try to improve.”

Suratt said this month is the association’s Blindness Awareness Month because on May 18 some 104 years ago the association began its work for the blind in TT. Globally, Blind Awareness Month is celebrated in October.

There have been gradual changes.

“What we are observing, as people who are disabled, is that the attitude toward our disability is changing,” he said. However, Suratt believes that more awareness is needed among the wider population.

This is why the association has suggested an all-inclusive education system. “If children go to school with children who are disabled, after a while, it becomes the norm....if we have children going to institutions we are locking them away and denying ‘regular’ children an opportunity,” he said.

Suratt also said people with disabilities were not given enough employment opportunities. The only way to change this is through education.

“We need a TT for all of us, not only one segment. We can only move forward when we all move forward together,” he said. The association’s greatest need, at the moment, he said, was getting trainers for its members: “People to train people who are blind, from rehabilitation officers to teachers...”

He said every company in TT should have a policy for the disabled and adopt the attitude: “If someone becomes disabled while in the organisation, how can we re-employ them?”