Dad’s tough journey - Father of three autistic sons seeks help to improve deplorable living conditions

On weekday mornings, Delroy Britton can be seen walking his three sons to school through the town of Mandeville in Manchester. It takes them about an hour to travel from their home along Three Chains Road to the Woodlawn School of Special Education.

His sons — 13-year-old Dacquan, 11-year-old Jayquan and nine-year-old Sanjay Britton — are all autistic. The eldest, Dacquan, who has clubfoot, often has to lean on his father for support along the journey.

The boys started attending the school this month, after being out of the formal education system for almost three years.

In June, their 53-year-old single father was awarded the Sam Sharpe Award for Exemplary Fathers of Children with a Disability at the fifth staging of the Eternal Fathers Awards. It was accompanied by a grant, which funded the boys’ enrolment in school and provides them with lunch daily.

Before that, the elder Britton, who works as a labourer on construction sites, said he was forced to supplement his income by begging on the streets when he was between jobs. And because of his sons’ disabilities, he had no one to care for them, so they were often on the streets with him.

“Sometimes I have to be on the streets asking for a little assistance. Sometimes I find myself in front of a supermarket or in front of a KFC, trying to see if I can get something for them,” he said.

Britton admitted that it is not something he likes to do, but feels he has no choice sometimes — “especially in the time when there is nothing to eat, and you hear them saying that they are hungry”.

“... they can really

hold the hungry”

“The thing I really love about them is that they can really hold the hungry,” he added.

Eternally grateful that they are now in school, Britton said he now yearns to provide his sons with a comfortable living space.

Their three-bedroom home lacks basic amenities such as water and electricity. Additionally, he said the roof was damaged during the passage of Hurricane Melissa last year and has still not been fully repaired.

“The living situation is very, very low,” he told The Sunday Gleaner. “When the children have to be using their tablets and stuff, I have to carry it to other persons’ place to get it charged. When it come down to the cooking facilities, I have no gas stove, no fridge, or those types of stuff that is necessary for houses.”

The windows in the home are also in need of repair, he said.

“It’s really pressuring, but I just can’t give up,” he said.

The ongoing drought has intensified their challenges. The five drums the family has for water storage are empty, and while Britton fetches water from a nearby tank, it is not potable.

“The water is green; it is not proper. Even when clothes are washed and you have dem on, you can still smell this foul scent,” he said.

Because of this, staff sometimes have to give the boys a shower and a change of clothes when they arrive at school.

The grant also provides funds for transportation to take the boys to school. However, the taxi operator hired to transport them quit after the first two days, citing the bad roads in their community and an inability to provide the care and attention the autistic boys need.

Currently out of a job, Britton aspires to get into livestock farming so he can provide for his sons and keep them in school.

But until then, he is hoping that help will come so he can create a more comfortable home environment for his sons.

“Sometimes when the pressure is on, and you call to God, but you’re not hearing Him answering, you feel like if you have wings, then you would fly,” he said. “But I always tell my boys no matter what the situation is in life, I am not going to rob anything for you guys.”

sashana.small@gleanerjm.com