Townsley Roberts, an amputee, is among the minority in the disabled community.
That's because he has a job. Roberts, 38, prepares financial statements at Aetos Holdings on Tonique Williams-Darling Highway.
Kaleisha Rolle, a 26-year-old amputee, who is bound to a wheelchair, isn't as fortunate. She is among the majority in the disabled community.
In The Bahamas, where a large number of able-bodied people are unemployed, the chances of employment for a disabled person are slim, Roberts told The Guardian yesterday. He said he knows he is among the "lucky few" who have a job.
"We have been traditionally discriminated against," he said, referring to disabled people.
"People make assumptions about our intelligence because of our disabilities."
Of the more than 10,000 disabled people in The Bahamas, only 17 percent of those who are 15 or older are employed, according to 2010 Census figures that were released by the Department of Statistics in February.
And while those statistics are daunting, Roberts said the disabilities bill, which was passed in the House of Assembly on Wednesday, gives the disabled community some hope.
The Persons with Disabilities Equal Opportunities Bill seeks to make it illegal to deny a disabled person equal access to opportunities for suitable employment.
Both Rolle and Roberts were born with both legs. However, tragic circumstances led to both having a leg amputated.
Rolle said she was diagnosed with a type of bone cancer in 1993. She was eight at the time. Following surgery to remove the tumor, she said she had complications and had her left leg amputated above the knee.
In 2000, as she prepared to enter into the 12th grade, Rolle said she had a major stroke, which made traveling even more difficult. That's when she was confined to a wheelchair.
Rolle said she never finished high school.
Roberts was five when he had his left leg amputated at the knee.
He said two women were fighting when one of threw a peanut butter jar at the other. He said a piece of the broken glass cut him on the back of his leg. The cut was infected and he contracted gangrene, he said. In order to save his life, Roberts said doctors amputated his leg.
Roberts who has two associates degrees from The College of The Bahamas, said many disabled people drop of out school because they are constantly teased and bullied by other students.
Roberts said he has been working in the accounts department at his current job for 19 years.
In comparison, Rolle said she only had one temporary job in her life. She said she only got the job because she knew the manager.
Rolle said she doesn't believe that people would hire her because she hasn't finished high school and because of her disability.
Rolle said after she recovered from cancer treatment and her amputation in 1993, she was excited to return to school.
"I was just trying to get over one hurdle -- that was the cancer. I was terrified. But after I went through the treatment, I thought that was it. I was like, 'Here comes my normal life,'" she said.
"I went back to school. It was hard. I faced harassment. It was horrible. I could never ever forget that time. I was in Carlton Francis Primary School. In grade seven it was harder at S.C. McPherson."
Rolle said when she had her stroke she was forced to leave school.
"I was like a baby," she said. "My mother had to do everything for me."
Eleven years later, Rolle said she found the courage to return to school, in a bid to make herself more attractive to prospective employers. She said she enrolled in the Bahamas Technical and Vocational Institute three years ago and is studying to become an office assistant.
When she graduates, she hopes to find a job so that she can become more independent.
Both Rolle and Roberts said they are grateful to the government for bringing a bill that will protect the rights of people like them.
According to the bill, businesses that have 100 employees or more would be required to employ a minimum number of disabled people.
The bill states that not less than one percent of qualified disabled people have to be employed at such businesses.
Employers would be barred from discriminating against disabled people in relation to recruitment; advertisement for employment; creation, classification or abolition of posts; determination or allocation of wages, salaries, pensions or other such benefits and the choices for training, advancement or promotion.
Roberts said people in the disabled community have been fighting for such rights for a long time.
Both Roberts and Rolle said they were at the House of Assembly on Wednesday when the bill was passed.
"It was such an enjoyment. It was a weight lifted off our shoulders," Roberts said.
Rolle offered similar sentiments.
"I know we waited until 41 years, but I thank God for everything," she said.
"Thank the Lord for helping us."
Moving forward, Rolle said she hopes the issue doesn't fall through the cracks.
She added that she is hoping that the bill is passed in the Senate soon and is enacted.
Under the new law, any building where members of the public are permitted would have to be adapted to accommodate those with disabilities.
Building owners would be given two years after the legislation is brought into force to make their structures disability-friendly.

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