Dear Editor,
The development strategy in the bill relating to the differently-abled should permit the material and cultural condition of all disabled people to improve simultaneously. Since all disabled people contribute to the development process, simple justice requires that as the benefits of their work accrue to the nation, they should see their own situation improving along with that of others. If they perceive that, despite their own efforts, only some categories of people or some part of the country are reaping benefits, such as help with transportation, etc, it is unlikely that they will continue to work with the Ministry of Health and the Guyana Council of Organisations for Persons with Disabilities. Development is likely to be more rapid and more stable if the conditions of all disabled people improved at the same time and all regions benefited from the bill.
For this to happen there must be, among other things, a programme for imparting skills to the unskilled and for upgrading skills possessed by the semi-skilled.
The multiplication of skills in the society will act as a catalyst for the continuous and dynamic improvement of the disabled and their environment.
It must be a matter of policy to discriminate selectively in favour of the disadvantaged to endow them with these skills that are vital to their self-development and the development of the country.
Disabled people vote at periodic elections but, for the rest, they seem to look on from the outside. They may criticise their employer and government for casting them aside without being re-employed after an accident, but they do so as spectators. They do not do so through any acknowledged right to be considered part of the daily decision-making processes included in the long-awaited disability bill. Hence, their contributions are not as constructive as they might be. In effect, they are counted as nothing in society.
Yours faithfully,
Mohamed Khan
