Advocacy and self-help organisation Combined Disabilities Association (CDA) Limited has made the biting charge that, in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis, the majority of the vulnerable group it represents has no access to aid intended for them.

The group’s chairman, Arthur Taylor, while expressing gratitude that the disabled were being considered in the Government’s response at such a crucial time in the pandemic, said the stipulation that disabled individuals may only gain access to funds from the COVID-19 Allocation of Resources for Employees (CARE) Programme if they are registered with the Jamaica Council of Persons with Disabilities (JCPD) serves to disenfranchise a large number of people in need.

In a letter copied to the Jamaica Observer, Taylor juxtaposed the national censuses completed in 2001 and 2011, which placed the number of individuals with disabilities in excess of 163,000 and 200,000, respectively, against the fact that “the present registration at the JCPD is under 11,000 people”.

Executive director of CDA Gloria Goffe explained that the major factor inhibiting registration with the JCPD has been the acquisition of a medical certificate from a specialist practising in the area of disability to confirm the condition.

“So, if the person is blind, they will need an optician. If the person is deaf, the certificate must come from an ENT specialist, and so on,” Goffe told the Observer.

She explained that often the disabled person is unemployed and has limited access to health facilities. This is further impacted by the fact that many disabled individuals live in circumstances of extreme need.

Goffe said that in the late 80s to 90s there was a push to identify the disabled across the island and field workers were dispatched to gather the data. The process to full registration with the JCPD, she said, has been delayed over the years by the medical requirement.

She charged that help must get to where there is need, but it was not wise to force the disabled to be moving around in public spaces during the novel coronavirus outbreak as they are particularly vulnerable, based on their varying disabilities.

Chairman Taylor said that he has written to the minister of finance and made the matter public in order that an alternative to the JCPD registration be established. He explained that there exists other organisations serving the disabled community which could “vouch” for their condition and need.

He cited the Jamaica Society for the Blind and Jamaica Association for the Deaf as entities that could offer confirmation for the communities they serve.

Taylor, himself visually impaired, said: “The Government should be able to trust the credibility of these organisations to verify the conditions of the people.”

He added that there is need to garner assistance for the disabled to be able to meet the outstanding JCPD requirement, but said that with the challenges associated with COVID-19 being immediate, a “bridge over the problem” needed to be created.

In his letter he said also among the factors affecting registration were that the disabled experienced mobility challenges in travelling from their homes to medical care facilities and there was a “lack of awareness of the ‘new’ process established, having previously registered”.

The new regime referenced were the regulations associated with the Disabilities Act of 2014, which established the medical certificate criterion for registration with the JCPD. This requirement voided previous registrations.

The chairman recommended that a portion of the funds available could be used “to assist with the registration of those who, due to their economic situation or lack of human support, are unable to do so”.

Said he: “There are real issues why the registration figures represent approximately just about nine per cent of the [disabled] population. These issues have been discussed and a few initiatives taken.”

When contacted by the Observer, Dr Christine Hendricks, executive director of the JCPD, confirmed that the organisation had approximately 10,000 registered members and another 25,000 within its database from incomplete applications; many awaiting medical certificates.

“We have to encourage registration because we need to know how many members of the disabled community live across the island and where they are, so that in times like these we can reach them,” Hendricks said.

She told the Observer that the JCPD had reached out to assist a number of individuals in its database in accessing aid from different entities, including the rebate programme offered by Jamaica Public Service.

As to matters specific to the Government’s CARE Programme, she directed this newspaper to the permanent secretary within the Ministry of Labour and Social Security.

Attempts to get responses from the permanent secretary, Minister Shahine Robinson and her junior minister Zavia Mayne were not successful.

Minister of Finance and the Public Service Dr Nigel Clarke announced in the House of Representatives on April 28 that $40 million will be transferred to the Ministry of Labour and Social Security to provide support to the community of persons living with disabilities, and acknowledged that the disabled have been experiencing challenges accessing the benefits of the CARE programme.

“While some persons living with disabilities have signed up for and will benefit from compassionate grants, others within this group experience unique challenges that make it difficult for them to sign up online, to have an ID, to go to a bank to collect, so we have to accommodate them and ensure that they are included and have a parallel mechanism, while ensuring that we don’t have persons who are double-dipping,” he said.

The CDA also charged that a number of the members of the disabled community were not completely conversant with the technology and faced difficulty in submitting applications.

“They do not always have the help to make the application, or even credit, so this is another problem,” Taylor told the Observer.

He, however, added that corporate Jamaica had been responsive with aid in terms of food and other supplies, but much of the need remains unmet.

For its part, Special Olympics Jamaica said it is aware that there is help available through the CARE programme, but it had hit a hurdle with the requirement that applicants have tax registration numbers (TRN) and an active bank account.

“While some of the athletes have TRNs, we work with many who have different levels of mental retardation and often don’t have personal bank accounts,” said an associate of the organisation, who requested anonymity as the individual did not have permission to speak with the media.

The associate said that there is immense need, but quite a number of participants are not employed in mainstream organisations and so are either unable to represent themselves to banking institutions, as some had intellectual disabilities or do not qualify based on the requirements for opening a basic bank account.

“Some of them do not even have $2,000 spare money to open an account,” the representative said.

More than 500,000 applications have been received since the CARE Programme opened online on April 9.