MONTEGO BAY, St James – Members of the disabled community have been invited to sit on two key committees within the St James Municipal Corporation, effectively immediately.

The announcement was made during last Thursday’s monthly meeting of the local authority, that they will join the planning and environment as well as the infrastructure and traffic committees, two facets of the corporation that are critical to ongoing development.

“I think it is at that stage now where we will have representation at the planning level. So when we are doing our development orders, plans and everything pertaining to the development of St James, you will have a say in how we execute those projects and how we plan the different spaces and the development of Montego Bay,” Deputy Mayor, Councillor Richard Vernon, said in comments directed to the disabled community at the meeting.

“Rest assured that when we are going to do our sidewalks, our buildings, you name it, it will be done with the contribution of the disabled society,” he added.

There are challenges fully accessing a number of public and private buildings across the country despite the 2022 enactment of the Disabilities Act. Councillor Charles Sinclair, a lawyer, was recently left temporarily reliant on crutches and the experience of trying to access the courthouse reignited his interest in the issue.

On Thursday, Vernon said his announcement was part of the corporation’s efforts to be as inclusive as possible.

“Whether you are disabled or not, we have to ensure that we include you and you feel some measure of ownership when we carry out these projects,” said the deputy mayor.

The announcement was welcomed by Robert Blake, vice-president of the Cornwall Combined Association Benevolent Society, who represented the disabled community at the meeting. It is something for which they have been lobbying, he said.

“We have been suggesting it,” he told the Jamaica Observer when asked for reaction to the announcement.

Blake is expected to sit on both committees.

“We can’t be a tourist resort area and we don’t have accessibility at the front,” he said of challenges faced by the community.

Blake noted that a disabled-friendly Montego Bay could be marketed to attract visitors who require access.

“Apart from the regular tourist, we have persons with disabilities who want to come here but they are not able to come because the place is not accessible. It’s about more than a ramp and disability signs; you have to put in other things in place,” he stressed.

According to the corporation’s Superintendent of Roads and Works Saad Campbell, there will be an incentive to encourage compliance.

“We are going to be proposing a certification for what we deem as disabled or disability-friendly buildings, where we give an award and we even highlight buildings that allow access for the disabled,” he explained during the meeting.

He said they will also compile a list of entities that are already compliant with the regulations and there is also a plan to tackle sidewalks.

“[Under] our sidewalk programme, which is going to be quickly organised and set out for this coming period, we will ensure that we continue to make provisions for the disabled to access all of the sidewalks and all of the areas from the sidewalks,” Campbell said.

The Disabilities Act was developed to “promote, protect and ensure the full and equal enjoyment by persons with disabilities of privileges, interests, benefits and treatment on equal basis with others; and to establish the Jamaica Council for Persons with Disabilities; and for connected matters”.

Its 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. It was passed in Parliament in October 2014 and the regulations were later affirmed in both Houses of Parliament in October 2021.