Members of the disabled community who are suffering from domestic abuse will now be better able to access State resources to get help and expand their knowledge of gender-based violence.

Three text lines have been set up by the Bureau of Gender Affairs for victims of gender-based violence, including hearing-impaired individuals, to access in case of an emergency.

Minister of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport, Olivia Grange, who spoke on Friday, November 29, at the ‘Stand up, Talk up’ Public Forum at the Courtleigh Auditorium in New Kingston, said that a social worker from the Bureau of Gender affairs will always have that phone ready and waiting as part of the first level intervention initiative offered by the bureau for victims of gender-based violence.

She also noted that the Bureau of Gender Affairs will have all of its knowledge products embossed into Braille so that visually-impaired members of the society can access the resources and become more sensitised and aware of gender-based violence.

According to Grange, the Bureau of Gender Affairs has already reached out to the Jamaica Society for the Blind to have the resources transferred into Braille, but was informed that the embossing machine was not working as a particular part was in need of repair.

Consequently, the Minister announced at the forum that she was donating the funds that are required to fix the machine and handed over a symbolic cheque for $150,000, which was collected by Kay-Ann Samuels from the Jamaica Society for the Blind.