VISUALLY impaired graduate student Shavane Daley was excited when he received an invitation to have a sit down with United States President Barack Obama as part of the town hall meeting in the University of the West Indies (UWI) Mona auditorium on Thursday.

He had hoped to hear about plans or programmes specially targeting the disabled. But he left disappointed.

“I was coming hoping to hear something about persons with disabilities in Jamaica and the region, but I didn’t hear that. I wanted to ask the question but I didn’t get the chance either,” he told the Jamaica Observer.

He wasn’t the only person from the disabled community in the select group of 350 youth leaders. There was at least one person in a wheelchair, and a translator for the hearing impaired performed sign langauge.

In spite of his disappointment, however, Daley, who is pursuing a Master’s degree in Cultural Studies at UWI, expressed hope that Obama’s announcement of a US$68- million investment for education and training programmes for young people in Latin America and the Caribbean would yield success stories.

The US president may not have singled out disabled people, but he did the gay/lesbian community. In a speech that focused on the value of young people as future leaders, and the value of entrepreneurship as a vehicle for achieving a stable and prosperous economy, Obama identified two Jamaicans from the group of youth leaders, whom he commended for having turned negative situations in their lives into good and who, he said, were “examples of what is possible even in the most difficult circumstances”. One of them was Angelie Jackson, whom the president identified as a lesbian.

“When she was 19 Angeline and a friend were kidnapped, held at gunpoint, and sexually assaulted,” he said.

“As a woman and as a lesbian, justice and society weren’t always on her side, but instead of staying silent, she chose to speak out and started her own organisation to advocate for women like her — to help them… push back against stereotypes and give them some semblance of their own power — and she became a global activist.

“But more than anything, she cares about her Jamaica and making it a place where everybody, no matter your colour, class or sexual orientation can live in equality,” Obama continued to loud applause from the audience.

The president was in Jamaica on a one-day working visit during which he had bilateral talks with Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller, met with Caricom Heads of Government, hosted the youth forum, and laid a wreath at National Heroes’ Circle in honour of World War I and II veterans.

He also visited the Bob Marley museum.