Scouts train for inclusion

The Barbados Boy Scouts’ Association is taking steps to ensure boys living with disabilities can become part of the movement.

Scout leaders are being given first-hand experience of some of the challenges faced by people with disabilities as part of the Learning Inclusiveness, Entrepreneurship, and Environmental Protection (LIEEP) project.

LIEEP Lead Consultant Marsha-Ann Clarke said the exercise was designed to help leaders understand what inclusion means in practice and, more importantly, prepare them to welcome boys with disabilities.

“If a boy becomes blind, or even if there is a boy who was born blind and he wants to join Scouts, these leaders are being prepared so that they can truly say, ‘Yes, you can come. You can be a part, and we are prepared for you,’” she said.

During the association’s third training workshop at its Hazelwood Upper Collymore Rock headquarters on Saturday, participants were blindfolded and given canes before being asked to navigate the headquarters as part of the exercise.

Clarke said the experience gave leaders a greater appreciation for the trust and challenges involved in navigating everyday spaces without sight.

“People started to realise what former Senator Kerry-Ann Ifill told us is the ‘walk of trust’, where they have to trust other people completely and use the cane to be able to know the size of the doorway they’re going through when there’s a two-inch step down, when there is a decline or ramp, and when there are steps to navigate.”

The training also exposed participants to Braille and sign language, while allowing them to consider how activities and scout badges could be adapted to encourage greater participation.

Stressing that the session was only a small taste of the realities faced by those with disabilities, Clarke said the ultimate goal is to ensure the next generation of scouts grows up with a greater understanding of inclusion.

National Coordinator for the Global Environment Facility Small Grants Program, implemented by the United Nations Development Program, Dr David Bynoe, said the initiative is about ensuring boy scouts have the capacity to include people from all walks of life.

He revealed that the facility has provided approximately $100 000 in funding and equipment to support the inclusiveness training.

Bynoe said the initiative, now in its second year, demonstrates what can be achieved when organisations work together to remove barriers to participation.

“It’s amazing what we can do if we bring everyone to the table,” he stated.

He said support from organisations such as the UNDP is important because the funding can help accelerate changes that might take much longer otherwise.