Woman: My daughter needs a sign language interpreter

THE mother of 16-year-old Abby Lincoln, who was born with 95 per cent deafness, is pleading with government to assist in her educational development by providing her with a sign language interpreter so she can resume classes at Toco Secondary School (TSS).

In January, Newsday published a story to highlight Lincoln's difficulty to access education as she was unable to attend school since September due to the Education Ministry not assigning her an interpreter.

After the story was published, then education minister Dr Nyan Gadsby-Dolly intervened and the teen was assigned an interpreter. However, this interpreter's tenure was on a contract for a period of three months.

That time has since elapsed, and according to Lincoln's mother, Abigale Lincoln, who recently had her leg amputated from below the knee, her daughter is now back to square one.

Normally, such a contract would be renewed once there is proof that the service is needed, but on May 16, at a post-cabinet media conference, Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar announced a "freeze" on all government hirings and issuing of government contracts, as she cited concerns about the mishandling of said contracts at state level.

She promised the halt would be "just for a time" until new boards were installed and certain evaluations done.

However, in an interview on June 3, Lincoln said since the PM's announcement on May 16, her daughter has been unable to get an interpreter assigned to her and she cannot attend classes.

Lincoln boasted that her daughter placed fifth overall in her class in mid-term exams, but without an interpreter, Abby cannot write the upcoming end-of-term exams which could see her being promoted to Form 2.

“The teachers try but they can only do so much because they can’t (do) sign (language)," Lincoln said.

This reporter visited the Ministry of Education in Port of Spain on June 3, after multiple unanswered phone calls, and spoke with an official from the Student Support Services Division who confirmed that Abby could not be assigned a new interpreter until the freeze on new hirings and new contracts was lifted.

Newsday subsequently reached out to Minister in the Office of the Prime Minister Barry Padarath who said Lincoln's situation was not a unique one.

"We have had instances over the past couple of days where there are these special circumstances. Once it has been drawn to the relevant permanent secretary and minister, we have remedied those situations. So those matters have been addressed.

“I can tell you from liaising with other ministers that there are instances where such situations have arisen and we have dealt with it expeditiously to ensure that there is a easy transition and there is no interruption in terms of special needs people,” Padarath said.

However, he admitted to having no information on the specific situation involving Lincoln and suggested reaching out to Education Minister Michael Dowlath.

When Newsday reached out to Dowlath, he said he was in a meeting at the ministry at the time, and asked that Newsday send him a message via WhatsApp. This was done and the minister's response was to thank Newsday for the information and that he would follow up on it.

Newsday also tried reaching out to Persad-Bissessar to try and find out how much longer the freeze on hirings would remain, but was unable to do so.

Lincoln said while she understands the reasons behind the freeze, she is hopeful for a resolution as she does not want her daughter's education to be further impacted.

She said that in addition to having one of her legs amputated, she also lost her eyesight earlier this year which has greatly limited her ability to assist her daughter with homework and school projects. She said Abby was now even more vulnerable of falling behind in her education.

The worried woman said she had tried reaching out to Toco/Sangre Grande MP Wayne Sturge to see if he could intercede on her daughter's behalf to get a sign language interpreter assigned once again, but has been unable to do so.