We hear from Minister of Labour and Social Security Mr Pearnel Charles Jr that special care is being taken to ensure the disabled are not left “at the back of the line” during relief efforts following Hurricane Beryl.

The minister says that, alongside government agencies, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) will focus on children with disabilities, pregnant and lactating mothers, and children registered with the Programme of Advancement Through Health and Education (PATH).

He also says “cash and care packages” will go to those persons registered with the Jamaica Council for Persons with Disabilities as well as those listed by the Early Stimulation Programme.

His appeal “to all families, all parents, who have in their household a child with a disability” to register their child resonates.

There are far too many of our people with urgent needs who are not getting the required help because they are not on the list of relevant agencies and programmes.

That debilitating reality often happens because people simply have no idea what needs to be done to get themselves or those they care for registered.

Good neighbours, relatives, friends, community leaders, social workers, political representatives, et al, should all make it their duty to help in such situations.

In all of this, Opposition spokesman and energetic advocate for the disabled, Senator Floyd Morris makes the obvious, oft-repeated point that physical accessibility is at times the biggest hurdle for the disabled.

Says he: “[S]ometimes… persons with disabilities are forgotten because they are not able to go directly to the Member of Parliament’s office…”

We like his suggestion that, in repairing schools and other structures used as shelters which were hit hard by the hurricane, the authorities should provide ramps and other access-friendly facilities with the disabled in mind.

Senator Morris’s “double fix” makes perfect sense for, as he pointed out, some disabled people “don’t [go] to shelters because [they] are inaccessible…”

Truthfully, while proper physical facilities to enable the disabled have been spoken about for decades, the matter has never been given priority by those who vote. Hence the elect of the people have never been overly concerned.

And, as our story ‘Not emergency-friendly’ in the Sunday edition made clear, first responders, including ambulance crews and firefighters, are also seriously challenged by accessibility issues in many buildings.

There is the suggestion that the desire to maximise profits is the reason many developers build structures with passageways, doors, stairways, too narrow for emergency crews — including stretcher bearers — to manoeuvre.

Even where provided, some elevators are too small for those seeking to quickly take the critically ill to hospital.

“Developers are [thinking] more about how many rooms they can fit on a building to make the most… money; nobody thinks about an emergency. The only time [people] think about health care is when they are sick or have a relative sick…” declares a frustrated first responder.

Also, the situation suggests that those responsible for providing building approvals, including the municipal corporations, are not paying due attention, or worse.

As a nation claiming to be civilised we must do better.