MONTEGO BAY, St James — Montego Bay’s acting mayor, Councillor Richard Vernon, has put applicants for building permits on notice that their structures will not be approved by the St James Municipal Corporation unless they are in line with requirements outlined under the Disabilities Act.

“Once you have submitted a plan, we will be perusing it to ensure that you are compliant with what obtains under the Disabilities Act, in particular access to buildings,” he told the Jamaica Observer.

The Disabilities Act was passed in Parliament in October 2014, reaffirmed by both Houses in October 2021 and came into effect on February 14, 2022. The legislation aims to promote and protect the fundamental rights of people with disabilities and prohibits discrimination against them. This will extend towards their access to buildings.

“For… new buildings, I am speaking with the director of planning to see how best we can work out that aspect of it where persons with disabilities can access them,” said Vernon, Jamaica Labour Party councillor for the Montego Bay South Division.

“We will be encouraging and sensitising our draftsmen and architects who submit plans to the corporation to consider these things when doing their applications because I don’t foresee us granting approval to new applications for buildings without the access. Once the access is possible it must and will be enforced,” he insisted.

While there has been much discussion about accessing commercial structures, Vernon made it clear that residential buildings — especially those that have tenants — will not escape scrutiny.

“If a tenant is going to a place and that tenant is disabled, you should create the… conveniences for that person. We all have a responsibility to ensure that we protect the disabled population,” he added.

The Act’s main objectives include recognising and accepting the principle that persons with disabilities have the same fundamental rights as any other person; promoting individual dignity, freedom of choice and independence of persons with disabilities; and preventing or prohibiting discrimination against persons with disabilities.