‘We are Equals’

FORMER HEALTH MINISTER, DR LESLIE RAMSAMMY HAS SHOT DOWN what he
believes is a false dichotomy between the so-called able-bodied and persons living with
disabilities

“We are all equal,” Ramsammy said emphatically while delivering the feature address at a recent
graduation ceremony for the 22 students living with disabilities who enrolled at the local
National Vocational Training Centre popularly known as the Open Door Centre.

“We may have different capacity. We may have different ways of being able, but we are all
equal,” Dr Ramsammy, who is now an Advisor to Health Minister, Dr Frank Anthony, said in his
key note address.

He said persons living with disabilities must be given due recognition and it must go beyond
mere rhetoric.

“It has to be in deed and truth…whether we have one or the other disabilities we have to be
empowered to participate,” Dr Ramsammy emphasised.
“If we are not empowered, we cannot participate. People might say that you have a right to
participate but if that right is not supported by resources, then there is no way that you can
equally participate and resources don’t always mean money,” Ramsammy counselled.
“A child reaching a particular age can go to school in virtually every community. We should be
proud of that, but if that child has a disability, then there are a few places that they can go and so
if we talk about equity and equality for every citizen, then we also have to create an environment
in which persons living with either physical or other disabilities can equally access training
opportunities,” the former Health Minister noted.

He wants support to back laws on the rights of persons with disabilities to work.
“So, we have a law that says that every person, and in particular, persons living with disability
should not be discriminated against in terms of employment. But for us to employ persons living
with disabilities, we also need to provide training and educational opportunities. Until very
recently, until I became Minister of Health, simple things like access to a building was almost
impossible. The Ministry of Health at the time simply was not structured for people with
disabilities to come. So, I created an office on the bottom floor where officers of the ministry can
go and meet people. It’s a simple thing like that,” Ramsammy said.

He noted that incrementally, Guyana is giving teeth to its belief that persons with
disabilities have an equal stake in the patrimony of the society.
“I am proud this afternoon that I am able to be here among you. I have always said that the 12
years that I spent as Minister of Health, the most meaningful part was the work that we did was
in rehabilitation and disability. Some of you don’t know and some of the older ones may not
remember, but one of my first duties as Minister of Health was the reconditioning of this school,
a collaborative effort between the Community Based Rehabilitation (CBR) and the Italian NGO,
Italian Association Amici di Raoul Follereau (AIFO) as the school was first commissioned in
May of 2001,” Ramsammy recalled.