St. Kitts considers disability rights

From SKN Vibes:

BASSETERRE, St. Kitts - The St. Kitts-Nevis Association of Persons with Disabilities (SNAPD) will be continuing its increased rights awareness campaign this week with a town hall meeting at the St. Peters Community Centre on Thursday (Oct. 15).

According to SNAPD President Anthony Mills (pictured), the event is the first in a series of town hall meetings that are designed to highlight the challenges persons living with disabilities face on a daily basis.

“The town hall meetings are being held to bring awareness to the various communities about the need to integrate persons with disabilities in the everyday community life. We hope that by the end of this series of meetings there will be a greater sensitivity and awareness of the things disabled people go through,” he told SKNVibes.

Mills stated that prominent politicians, including the Constituency representative and the People’s Action Movement candidate for the area, medical personnel and prominent members of the community have all been invited to the discussions.

“We hope to begin to see changes being made to things like the building code, movement on the U.N. Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the passage of laws to protect our rights and dignity,” Mills noted.

While persons living with disabilities “may move, see, hear, or learn and understand differently from a person without a disability”, Mills said it is crucial for communities to understand that those living with disabilities can contribute to society just as much as anyone else and deserve an equal opportunity to do so.

Apart from the town hall meetings, SNAPD is also planning to host a Halloween Party on October 31 in the Shadwell area for children with disabilities and their families to come “together for an evening of fun and games”.

By continuing activities of this nature throughout the year, SNAPD hopes that individuals within communities would realize that they can have a significant impact on the equal rights movement for all persons within the Federation.