Social Policy of Barbados

Barbados – Social Policy – The Disabled

* The extent of disability in the general population is not known although some progress has been made through the Barbados Population and Housing Census of 1990 which indicated that there were 10,323 persons with disabilities. This figure represents approximately 4 per cent of the island’s population, far below the World Health Organization’s estimate that 10 per cent of any given population will have a disability.

* The first significant policy initiative only came in 1980 with the establishment of a National Committee for the International Year of Disabled Persons. This Committee was set up to formulate a programme for the observance of the year and to make recommendations for the development and promotion of rehabilitation programmes such as care, training and employment to help persons with disabilities reach their full potential.

* By the time Barbados entered the 1990s there was much broader recognition of the disabled as an important vulnerable group for social programme intervention. The party that eventually formed the government had promised in its 1994 manifesto that "rehabilitation of disabled persons will be a national effort designed to facilitate the utilisation of their natural abilities and their participation in the world of work." Consistent with that promise the government established a Multi-Disciplinary Task Force on Disability in January 1996. This Task Force was mandated to formulate a National Policy on Disability in accordance with the U.N Standard Rules of Equalisation of Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities.

* In terms of public sector agencies, there are four annexes to mainstream primary schools offering special education for mentally challenged children up to age eleven. The Centre for Pre-Vocational Training, which draws most of its students from the primary school annexes, offers a primarily functional curriculum preparing children for life and work to the extent of...