Celebrating people with Down syndrome

DR RADICA MAHASE

Little Rochelle is 11 years old and she is a standard three student at Fishing Pond Presbyterian School. She likes baking and decorating, especially cupcakes, and she plays the piano, helps her brothers in their apiary and is involved in activities in her church.

Rochelle learnt baking from her mother and has her own small business, Rochelle’s Sweet Treats. The Down Syndrome Family Network (DSFN) supports her by providing opportunities for short courses, business development, branding, packaging, and so on. Rochelle hopes to open her own tea shop one day.

Anillia, 24, and Angelee, 19, are sisters who help out with chores at home. They love listening to all kinds of music, they love dancing and they are very good on the computer. They both attended the Pointe-a-Pierre Government Special School and the National Centre for Persons with Disabilities.

Anillia is a bit reserved and likes beauty culture, while Angelee loves to cook and is a very sociable girl. They are both at home at present, as there are very limited opportunities for them to work and not many opportunities for people with Down syndrome generally in TT.

Also, with the high prevalence of violence against women, as women with special needs they are more vulnerable and safety is a big concern.

Rochelle, Anillia and Angelee are just three of the talented, creative and intelligent individuals living with Down syndrome in TT.

Yesterday, TT joined the rest of the world in celebrating World Down Syndrome Day. In 2011, the UN General Assembly declared March 21 World Down Syndrome Day and invited all “member states, relevant organisations of the UN system and other international organisations, as well as civil society, including non-governmental organisations and the private sector, to observe World Down Syndrome Day in an appropriate manner, in order to raise public awareness of Down Syndrome.”

Celebrating World Down Syndrome Day is a good opportunity for TT to take stock of the quality of support, care and life that this country is providing for people with Down Syndrome as well as all others with special needs.

Too often we hear complaints of the lack of equal access to opportunities and the impetus to change the situation continues to come from NGOs and parents/caregivers, while the government continues to make excuses for its failure to provide education, therapy, employment opportunities, etc, for people with special needs.

Last Wednesday, at the fifth virtual meeting of the Joint Select Committee on Social Services and Public Administration’s enquiry into the effects of the hybrid learning system on student performance in government and government-assisted schools, Lisa Ghany, honorary board member at the DSFN, noted that her NGO had done a survey to ascertain the support that students received during the covid period.

She said of her members, under 40 per cent of students with Down syndrome are enrolled in early childhood care centres, about 43 per cent are enrolled in primary schools, less than ten per cent are in secondary schools, 20 per cent are at special schools and 20 per cent are not in any learning environment. Also, less than ten per cent got support from the Ministry of Education during the covid period, while only 15 per cent received support from the Ministry of Social Development and Family Services. Over 55 per cent did not receive any support in terms of resources.

These statistics show the extent to which people with Down Syndrome are not supported at a government level.

Ghany said, “I feel that the existing system really is failing our children with special needs. The system itself needs to be totally redesigned, because I think we all have to be on the same page with regard to our understanding of inclusion and also the understanding of the universal design for education.”

She noted, “There needs to be more integration of children with intellectual disabilities and disabilities like being hearing-impaired and sight-impaired that have nothing to do with the functioning of their intellectual capacity to learn,”

Also, there should be more mainstreaming of these children, with proper support in place.

While parents/caregivers and NGOs work to increase awareness of Down syndrome, autism and other special needs, it is imperative that they receive support from the government so that that every single person with any kind of special needs is given equal access to opportunities for intellectual development, for employment and for social interaction.

As Ms Ghany said, “I think that there is no excuse at this point in time that children with disabilities do not have access to equal opportunities for education.”

Dr Radica Mahase is the founder/director of Support Autism T&T