Trelawny residents concerned over lack of wheelchair access

Western Bureau:

A magistrate in the Trelawny Parish Court was recently forced to take proceedings to the building’s balcony because of the absence of a ramp to facilitate a wheelchair-enabled man entering the courthouse.

The man in question, Haynes Stewart, was ticketed by the police for urinating in the gutter in the vicinity of the public restroom in the town after he had wheeled himself to the facility only to find out that it was closed.

“I responded to nature’s call and urinated in the gutter. Along came a policeman, who ticketed me for the offence,” Stewart told The Gleaner.

“When I went to court, the ramp at the municipal building only facilitated entry to the ground floor. When my name was called, I answered from the ground floor. A lawyer explained my situation to the judge, who came out on the balcony, heard my case, and threw it out.”

According to Stewart, the court is not the only public building that he has had difficulties accessing, which has made doing business very frustrating for him.

“When I need to enter National Commercial Bank (NCB) in Falmouth, I have to be lifted in my wheelchair to get inside,” he said.

When The Gleaner spoke to Kelvin Hall, manager at NCB Falmouth, about the absence of a ramp to facilitate the disabled, he said that access could be attained via bricks laid in Water Square by the Port Authority of Jamaica.

“The bank is available via the brick-paved ramp to the left of the building,” said Hall, pointing to the bricks inserted around the fountain during the pedestrianisation of that section of the town.

Another Trelawny resident, Barrington Buchanan, a teacher who was recently invited to receive an award at Jamaica House for 40 years of service to education, said he was surprised that there was no ramp there for wheelchair users.

“They researched on my history of service, including who I am, yet when I went to Jamaica House for the award, there was no ramp facility for me to access the podium,” said Buchanan, a graduate of Mico Teachers’ College, now the Mico University College. “I decided to go home, but I was offered to be lifted in my wheelchair on to the podium.”

He added: “I refused to lower my dignity. It was only then that a temporary ramp was constructed. The lack of basics to afford the disabled some sort of comfortable existence is generally not available. If Jamaica House does not have it, then there should be very little surprise when the society, in general, does not care,” added Buchanan.