A new collective, the Guyana Council of Organisations for Persons With Disabilities, has been set up to lobby for the rights of persons with disabilities.
According to a statement by Chairperson Leon Walcott, the council sees itself as a collaborative organisation that has been set up to provide a forum for different organisations of and for persons with disabilities to come together to support each other in the hope of building a stronger disability movement in Guyana.

It added that the council’s mission is “to create a forum for organisations to support through advocacy and other means persons with disabilities so as to assist them to build their capacity to achieve their full potential.”

The Guyana Council plans to provide support for organisations of and for persons with disabilities in three areas, information and advice; unification and cooperation; and advocacy for disability rights. To this end, the council plans to offer support, advice and assistance to organisations rather than to individuals in order to avoid undermining already established bodies.

The council is working through an interim steering committee headed by disability advocate, Leon Walcott along with representatives from twelve different organisations of and for persons with disabilities. Walcott has been named chairperson while Simone Poole has been named secretary. Jeanette Jordan, Laurie Greenidge and Pastor Lawrence Hallahan are committee members, while Ganesh Singh is a committee member as well as the media relations officer.

The organisations represented include: the Guyana Deaf Mission; the Support Group for Deaf Persons; the East Bank Community Based Rehabilitation Programme; the East Coast Rehabilitation Programme; the Guyana Association of Visually Impaired Persons; United Action for Differently Able Persons; Young Voices Guyana; Ruimveldt Parent Support Group; National Federation of and for Disabled People; Kuru Kururu Community Based Rehabilitation Programme; New Foundation Initiative; Region Five Com-munity Based Rehabilitation Programme; and Region Two Community Based Rehabilitation Programme.