Disabled to protest again

George Daniel, president of the Disabled People International/TT Chapter (DPI), expressed his total disappointment with the 2004 Budget as presented by Prime Minister Patrick Manning in Parliament yesterday. Manning told Parliament that the disability grant, which is presently at $600 for persons with disabilities, between the ages of 40 and 65, will increase to $650, with a reduction in the age limit to 18 years, effective January 1, 2004.

When contacted at the St James Medical Centre where he is still recuperating from surgery last week, Daniel said: “The Prime Minister can’t be serious. I am amazed at what I heard. I told the members that the disability grant will be increased to somewhere between $800-$1000 for now, so said, partly done. It does not stand to reason why there is an age barrier at all. When a child is born and their parents discover that he or she is disabled at five years, do those children have to wait until 18 to receive this grant?” Daniel said that as the Budget ended his members have been calling him, saying that the Prime Minister doesn’t care about disabled people. “The one bus that is going to be allocated to school children with disability, how is that bus going to be able to take those children to schools? How are they going to work that? And where are they going to start,” questioned Daniel who added that they heard nothing in the area of transport, expecting to hear that every bus purchased now will be disable people-friendly, eventually phasing out the current set of public transport buses. Daniel went on: “We were expecting to hear something on housing, on education, on recreation, on employment and total access to public buildings and government institutions. But there was nothing.”

Upon his release from the medical institution, he said “We are going to meet with the board and discuss it further, following which we will make some serious decisions regarding that matter. But now we are disappointed,” said Daniel. He added: “I have taken note that when oppressed people in this country, with no other alternative to protest, the law card is being implemented. When we were outside there (NFM compound), the Commis-sioner of Police was saying that we were breaking the law but he as Commissioner of Police has to understand that the law does not always allow the aggrieved to highlight their plight.” Asked if what he said meant another protest, Daniel answered, “It is inevitable. I’ve already told my members, when they are engaged in protest be prepared for three things: One, to get sick, two, to make a jail and three, be prepared to die.