Government is promising to do more to help members of the differently-abled community become entrepreneurs so they can be more independent.
In this regard, John Hollingsworth, Director of the National Disabilities Unit, said his department has designed programmes in the area of agriculture, to assist people with disability to gain meaningful employment.
Singling out the planned Mangrove Agricultural Project, Hollingsworth said this was to be carried out in collaboration with the Barbados Workers’ Union (BWU) Labour College, providing a space for the differently-abled community to learn food crop production.
“I would have recently received from the Barbados Workers’ Union, a lease that we signed to operate a property at Mangrove in St Philip. What we hope to do there basically is to engage about 15 persons, teaching them skills in food crop production.
“From this food crop production, we hope to give these intellectually challenged adolescents the skill to grow food crops, impart skills of entrepreneurship and also provide them with some daily living skills so that when their caregivers or parents pass on they are not left at the whims and fancies of persons in the community, but they are better able to function independently,” explained Hollingsworth.
He made the comments while responding to questions from parliamentarians recently, as they discussed provisions in the 2022/2023 Estimates for the Ministry of People Empowerment and Elder Affairs, the ministry under which the National Disabilities Unit falls.
He said in addition to the food crop production, Government would be developing a flower arrangement project, providing an avenue for income generation for people with disabilities. “These flowers, although we will have to source some from within the private sector, it is earmarked that these flowers be grown at the same Mangrove Agricultural project.
So it will be two-fold basically – the Mangrove Agricultural project will produce food crops and flowers to be used in the flower arranging project. This will be an additional opportunity for people with disabilities to earn an income because at the end of the day they are the most vulnerable group in society. Persons with disabilities need the employment opportunities,” he said.
Hollingsworth expressed disappointment that more private sector firms were not providing opportunities for people with various disabilities, adding that while a few hearing-impaired individuals have been able to find employment, people with other impairments have found it more difficult.
“I regret to say that within the private sector there is not a great appreciation for persons with disabilities and different people frown on them as prospective employees,” said Hollingsworth.
“They, in a lot of cases do not give them the opportunities they deserve to be engaged in gainful employment. One or two companies have been able to do so and these are limited types of disabilities . . . I am speaking specifically about the hearing impaired for instance,” he said.
(MM)
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