Dear Editor,

According to Prime Minister Andrew Holness: “We’re a listening Government.” “We’re a learning Government.” “We’re a caring Government.”

These are words that will keep echoing in my consciousness for a long time to come, not just because they’ve been repeated and paraphrased so often throughout the time that this Andrew Holness-led Jamaica Labour Party Administration has been at the wicket, but mostly because they ring so hollow in light of what I know the lived experiences of myself and other disabled individuals have been.

Given the prevailing conditions in which we must strive to actualise our dreams and ambitions — yes, Prime Minister, we have those too — there is so much to complain about, but I’ll strive to keep this short as I raise some burning points. And by the way, Prime Minister, you don’t exactly stand out as an anomaly. As a matter of fact, I’ve been bringing this situation to our Government’s attention since I was a youth — well over three decades now — with no response!

And as can be noted from all of my many unanswered e-mails to you, including this one, numerous entities and people, including no less a person than the Leader of the Opposition Mark Golding, have always been copied, and he has also never responded. So it seems that it is standard procedure to jettison those issues you deem unimportant, especially if, as dictated by cultural norms, they are unlikely to be missed.

I was left disappointed at the end of your budget presentation because I had truly hoped you would prove to be different! Could not you have been different, Prime Minister, if only because you have apparently so much ground to recover regarding how you are perceived by the electorate?

Someone on Nationwide News Network’s YouTube platform, after your delivery, noted that the disabled had been virtually left out of the conversation. In response, it was noted that the announcement concerning reduced bus fares is something for which we ought to have been grateful. That was when it struck me that the majority of the disabled community doesn’t live in the Corporate Area and so do not ride on Jamaica Urban Transit Company Limited (JUTC) buses.

The challenges common to all of us have to do with accessible training and employment opportunities for those of us who can and want to work as well as adequate social protection for those who can’t, et cetera.

As I indicated, there’s a lot to say, but I’ll just end by saying that I have just been invited to a forum at my Ministry of Labour and Social Security parish office next week where we will have the opportunity to provide insight about the challenges we are facing and propose solutions.

This proposed engagement indicates to me that Jamaica Council for Persons with Disabilities (JCPD) is taking action, and the question is whether the Government will show itself to be fair and humane by willingly acquiescing to our requests and supporting our quest for equality, happiness, and fulfilment.

Remember, as Mahatma Gandhi said: “The greatness of a nation can be judged by how it treats its weakest members.” The “caring” economy you claim to be building must take that into consideration, lest it be judged adversely.

Dwight Campbell

earthismyhome63@yahoo.com