Approximately 180,000 living with disabilities

Addressing the National Centre for Persons with Disabilities’ (NCPD) annual general meeting at the San Fernando City Auditorium, Harris Promenade on Wednesday night, Seebaran- Suite said there was a need for a national registry of persons with disabilities as this figure was not known locally.

She however surmised that there was approximately 15 per cent of the population or 180,000 persons with disabilities in Trinidad and Tobago. “We have not yet mainstreamed people with disabilities in Trinidad and Tobago,” she said, adding that the educational policy did not address the specific needs of children with disabilities.

Meanwhile, NCPD chairperson Shereen Baksh described the past year as “challenging” due to the centre’s limited financial resources, its monthly commitments and a “national economy rife with downsizing and retrenchment.” “While our national economy depends heavily on the energy sector and oil prices have not yet rebounded as expected, the threat of inadequate government funding is real,” Baksh, who is legally blind, said.