Disability advocates celebrated a landmark moment on Tuesday as Parliament began debating the 2023/2030 National Disabilities Policy, aimed at improving the lives of people with disabilities across the island.Speaking from the well of Parliament, the newly appointed president of the Barbados Council for the Disabled, Patricia Blackman, described the occasion as “highly significant” for both council members and the wider community. Seated alongside former president Kerry Ann Ifill, Blackman said the council had long campaigned for sweeping reforms in the treatment and support of disabled people.“Today marks a significance in terms of the many areas that we would have advocated for,” Blackman said. “We sincerely hope that all the areas like for instance, in the areas of health, education, advocacy, employment, housing, transport, sport, all of those areas that would impact the lives of people with disabilities, especially the inclusion of people with disabilities in our society at this point. We give sincere appreciation to those persons whose shoulders we would have stood upon to bring us to this point, and we are looking beyond for more things to come.”
