Primary School Students hosted to one-day forum on Disability

Wed, Mar 6th 2019, 05:10 PM

Officials of the Disability Affairs Division of the Department of Social Services, Ministry of Social Services and Urban Development, hosted a one-day Primary School Forum as part of the Division’s ongoing education and awareness programmes Friday (March 1, 2019).

Mr. Kendrick Rolle, Programmes Officer, Disability Affairs Division, said Friday’s forum was the first in a series of meetings scheduled for the next two weeks. A second session will be held for secondary school students on Friday, March 8 at Walker’s Hall, Bahamas Union of Teachers, which will be followed by a public forum March 14, 2019 for members of the general public.

Students from Claridge Primary, Adelaide Primary, Gambier Primary, Carlton Francis Primary, Ridgeland Primary, Albury-Sayles Primary and Woodcock Primary, in addition to students from the Centre for the Deaf and the Hopedale Centre, participated in the forum.

Presentations included: Let’s Talk Disability, Living with a Disability, Seeing in My World, Disability Etiquette, and The Laws and Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

Making those presentations were: Mrs. Melony Munnings, Commissioner, National Commission for Persons with Disabilities; Mr. Antoine Munroe, School for the Blind; Mrs. Erin Brown and Inspector Leonardo Burrows, Royal Bahamas Police Force.

Mr. Rolle said the Disability Affairs Division decided to launch the latest in a series of education and awareness campaigns among primary school students so that the discussions and the education and awareness can begin at the earliest level possible, and “so that they can go back to their schools and teach others so that the word on disability awareness can really start to spread around the country.”

“It is our belief that the best way to begin that process is to engage with the children because they absorb things very quickly and then they go forward and share with each other and eventually the word gets around and the message gets out,” Mr. Rolle said.

“Today, we began with the primary school students and next Friday it will be the Secondary School students. Disability has no respect for any one person (as) it can happen to anyone at anytime, anywhere, and so we want to educate the children on what disability is, and how to deal with persons with disabilities, where to turn, what to do, and how to cope if they were to ever find themselves living with a disability or are living with a person with a disability.

“Respect for the community of persons with disabilities is also very important and so we want to address that area along with giving them an overview of the laws and rights of persons with disabilities. It’s all a matter of them being educated on these matters here today, and then going back to their respective schools, and indeed their respective classrooms, to become ambassadors within their schools for the community of persons with disabilities.

“That is the main focus -- for them to go back to their schools and teach others so that the word on disability awareness can really start to spread around the country,” Mr. Rolle added.

The Disability Affairs Division of the Department of Social Services, Ministry of Social Services and Urban Development hosted a one-day Primary School Forum on Disability at Walker’s Hall, Bahamas Union of Teachers, Friday, March 1. Pictured (from left seated) are: Mr. Tyrone Johnson, Master of Ceremonies, and Mr. Kendrick Rolle, Programme Officer, Disability Affairs Division. Standing (from Left) are: Mrs. Gillian Bethel, Assistant Director, Disability Affairs Division; Mrs. Lorraine Duvalier, Head, Disability Affairs Division, and Mrs. Carmen Forbes, Disability Affairs Division. (BIS Photo/Matt Maura) 

Mrs. Melony Munnings National Council for Persons with Disabilities addressing Friday’s one-day Primary School Forum on Disability hosted by the Disability Affairs Division of the Department of Social Services, Ministry of Social Services and Urban Development. (BIS Photo/Matt Maura) 


By Matt Maura

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