Forde: Embrace the disabled

With the COVID-19 pandemic affecting all aspects of Barbadian society over the last year, faith-based organizations are being encouraged to be more welcoming towards people with disabilities and more accessible to all, said Minister of People Empowerment and Elder Affairs Cynthia Forde.

Speaking at the joint thanksgiving service for the Barbados Council for the Disabled and the National Disabilities Unit’s marking the Month of the Disabled, Forde said: “We are currently faced with very challenging times, and it’s affecting all, irrespective of our religious beliefs. The COVID-19 pandemic does not discriminate between gender, able-bodied persons, religious persuasion, economic class, ethnicity, or any other forms of social stratification.

“It may pose certain categories of persons at greater risks, but at the end of the day, we are all vulnerable.”

Forde said it was the role of faith-based organizations to extend a helping hand to all Barbadians, and not only those familiar with their practices.

She declared: “I call on leaders of faith-based organizations, to make their institutions fully accessible to all people; for people with disabilities to be strengthened within their creed, and to be nourished by God’s love.

“[A] disability, is not an inability as we all know… give them the opportunity to shine, to grow, to flourish, and to exist in this all-inclusive society.”
(SB)