Bradshaw: Gun violence creating ‘new category’ of disabilities

Deputy Prime Minister Santia Bradshaw has highlighted a troubling new category of disability — victims of gun violence. 

She pointed to the worrying trend in her contribution to Tuesday’s debate in the Lower House, on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Bill, noting that “we have now turned the corner in terms of how we view disabilities generally . . . and it is no longer the traditional way in which we may have viewed it”.

The St Michael South East MP said she had encountered this in her constituency.

“It isn’t just the elderly disabled. It isn’t just the persons who are born physically challenged. It is not just people with special needs,” she said. “The other category that I am seeing becoming more and more commonplace are persons who are injured as a result of being unintended victims, and they themselves were in the wrong place at the wrong time and now have to live a life where they have a disability.”

She gave examples of footballers who were shot in the feet and can no longer play or even walk.

“Any disability is a bad thing, but one that certainly comes as a result of gunplay and is unintended, is something that we must continue to condemn—those persons who engage in these activities, these violent activities in our communities,” Bradshaw said.

She pointed out that when victims of gun violence can no longer work and support their families, the government then has to step in.

“You don’t find the person who, oftentimes, is the perpetrator of the bullet. So it means that the State then has to take up the responsibility for caring for those individuals who end up disabled. I believe that we have to look very closely at how we care for those individuals and put certain systems in place to be able to facilitate their care and support for their families, because in many cases, if those individuals cannot work, they’re not able any longer to be able to look after their families,” Bradshaw said.

She also said it was her hope that the Bill would lead to the creation of new support groups for people with disabilities. (FW)