Blind, visually impaired call for urgent improvement to accessibility in Warrens

The spokesman for the blind and visually impaired community on Monday called for urgent improvements to disability access in the Warrens business district, a hub of retail businesses and public offices.

Granville Mr DJ Carter, president of the National United Society of the Blind (NUSB), pointed to several obstacles that hamper the mobility of people with visual impairments.

He was speaking to journalists as the NUSB and the National Disabilities Unit held a walk in the area to highlight the daily challenges faced by visually impaired individuals, ahead of White Cane Safety Day which is celebrated annually on October 15.

Carter said: “For instance, there are curb cuts at the sidewalks, so a wheelchair user would have difficulty getting onto the sidewalks as well. Even at pedestrian crossings, some sighted persons struggle, so you can imagine how much more challenging it is for visually impaired people. We would like to see audible stoplights installed, which would make life easier for everyone.”

The group – accompanied by members of the Lions Club of Bridgetown, the Barbados Defence Force, the Barbados Coast Guard, and the Challenor Creative Arts and Training Centre – walked from the Massy car park to the Barracks building, through the PriceSmart car park, the Dome Mall, and back to the Massy car park.

After the event, NUSB Public Relations Officer Kerry-Ann Ifill highlighted several issues encountered along the route. “There are few to no zebra crossings and almost no curb cuts along the sidewalks. We also encountered grates with wide gaps, which are there for water runoff but pose a serious hazard for us. Our canes can get stuck, leading to injury or loss of the cane, as happened to one young woman near the airport.”

Responding to these concerns, Minister of People Empowerment Kirk Humphrey noted that the government is working to enhance accessibility for persons with disabilities.

“We need to address the gaps in policy and legislation. We’re retrofitting older buildings and making the roads more accessible. Some audio stoplights have already been installed, but we need to ensure that all lights in Barbados are equipped with audio signals,” he said.

Humphrey also revealed plans to collaborate with the Japanese government on further improvements, including the installation of tactile paving: “In Japan, there is a kind of tile that you can walk on if you’re blind so that you know where you’re going…. We’ve already started talking to the government of Japan about helping us provide some of those tiles.”

The minister acknowledged that the Warrens district was particularly challenging.

“As we walk around Warrens, the area probably wasn’t built for pedestrian traffic and it certainly wasn’t built for traffic of persons who were blind. It says to us in a very clear way that we have to improve our physical infrastructure,” Humphrey said, adding that the government would soon debate a policy in Parliament focusing on accessibility.

Chairman of the National Advisory Committee on Disabilities, Edmund Hinkson, expressed his eagerness to participate in that debate and urged respect for parking spaces reserved for people with disabilities, a resource often misused by able-bodied individuals.

(LG)