St. Kitts-Nevis man works to bring awareness to disability issues there

From SKNVibes:

Somewhere between seven to 10 percent of the world’s population go through their daily lives with a mental or physical disability, according to a 2000 report by the World Health Organisation (WHO).

This may not seem like a significant number, until one realises that this equates to as many as 600 million people, or double the population of the United States, that are limited from participating in society in a way that the remaining 90 percent would consider ‘normal’.

Of those 600 million persons, the WHO estimates that 80 percent live in developing nations such as St. Kitts-Nevis. Though St. Kitts-Nevis has never carried out a survey to accurately assess the number of persons living with disabilities in the Federation, the St. Kitts-Nevis Association for Persons living with Disibilities (SNAPD) estimates the figure to be somewhere between 4 000 and 5 000.

“It is something you have to live with to really understand, because it is hard to explain how a person who can’t speak feels when they are trying to get a point across to somebody who doesn’t know sign language. It’s kind of hard to explain how a person in a wheelchair would want to do everything that persons who can walk can, and then find out that he or she can’t,” SNAPD President Anthony Mills (pictured) explained in an interview with SKNVibes.

“Try sitting down and doing everything. Just try it for a day - try to wash, try to cook, try to clean, try to get in town and do business. Imagine you want to go into a store, but you can’t go in. Not because you don’t want to, but because you just can’t.

“I like to ask people to imagine you come in town one day and all of the sidewalks are blocked from you using them. How would you feel?” he added.

The challenges that persons living with disabilities face in St. Kitts-Nevis are as diverse as their personal afflictions.

Wheelchair-bound persons find that very few buildings or sidewalks have access ramps, which can often put them in danger of being hit by passing vehicles. Those with visual impairments would struggle to find Braille books in most schools. In the world of work, many employers in St. Kitts-Nevis would avoid hiring a person with a disability because of the minor accommodations that may have to be made to integrate him/her.

Mills said that this is a major issue facing the nation because of the large number of persons affected either directly or indirectly. He argues that nearly every person in the country would know at least one person living with a disability via family or friendship.

“Suppose it was you who was being shut out of society. It is hard enough being a person with a disability, and then add to that a society that does not seem to want you to be a part of it. We have a problem where we are facing closed doors, not open doors. The doors always seem to be closed to us and it is kind of frustrating. It makes life harder to live than it should be,” he said.