OPPOSITION Senator Floyd Morris has called for the Disabilities Act, which was passed in Parliament in October 2014, to be quickly brought into force.

“We have to make sure that that piece of legislation, the effective date is set as quick as possible,” Senator Morris remarked while participating in a debate in the Upper House on Friday on legislation to give the Caribbean Maritime Institute university status. He said the Disabilities Act would support some of the provisions in the Caribbean Maritime University Act, which speaks to access to the institution by persons with disabilities.

The Disabilities Act seeks to promote, protect and ensure that people with disabilities enjoy the same privileges, interests, benefits and treatment as other people in the society. The law would therefore make it unlawful for individuals to discriminate against people with disability in all spheres of the national life such as employment and education. The Act also incorporates the Jamaica Council for Persons with Disabilities (JCPD) as a body independent of the Ministry of Labour and Social security.

The JCPD mandate will be to, among other things, advise the portfolio minister on matters affecting people with disabilities, conduct public education programmes, make recommendations regarding the enforcement of the act, and other national measures that seek to prevent discrimination against people with disabilities.

Apart from a date having not yet been set by the responsible minister for the legislation to become effective, some public buildings still have not yet been fully outfitted to accommodate people with physical disabilities.

For example, Gordon House, where legislators meet on a weekly basis, and which is open to members of the public who wish to attend the various sittings, does not have a ramp or elevator to allow wheelchair- bound persons access to the building.

A disabilities rights tribunal is also to be set up to hear matters that cannot be resolved by the Jamaica Council for Persons with Disabilities, which means that individuals who have been discriminated against will no longer need to make claims in the Supreme Court.

— Alphea Saunders