The Trinidad and To­ba­go Blind Wel­fare As­so­ci­a­tion (TTB­WA) and the Dif­fer­ent­ly-Abled Move­ment are urg­ing the Gov­ern­ment to in­crease the dis­abil­i­ty grant when the 2026 Bud­get is pre­sent­ed on Mon­day.

Both or­gan­i­sa­tions al­so told the Gov­ern­ment that the Bud­get should be in­clu­sive, eq­ui­table, and sus­tain­able, en­sur­ing per­sons who are blind, vi­su­al­ly im­paired, or dis­abled are ful­ly in­clud­ed in the na­tion’s de­vel­op­ment agen­da.

The TTB­WA, in a state­ment is­sued yes­ter­day, stressed that a dis­abil­i­ty-in­clu­sive bud­get is not an act of char­i­ty but a mat­ter of na­tion­al re­spon­si­bil­i­ty and sound so­cial pol­i­cy.

“In­clu­sion is de­vel­op­ment. A rights-based bud­get will strength­en our econ­o­my, em­pow­er cit­i­zens, and re­flect the na­tion’s true com­mit­ment to fair­ness and equal­i­ty,” said Ken­neth Suratt, ex­ec­u­tive of­fi­cer of TTB­WA.

TTB­WA has ap­pealed for sus­tained fund­ing to sup­port its re­ha­bil­i­ta­tion and so­cial in­clu­sion ser­vices for blind and vi­su­al­ly im­paired cit­i­zens.

“In­vest­ing in the Blind Wel­fare As­so­ci­a­tion is an in­vest­ment in hu­man po­ten­tial and equal­i­ty. It al­lows us to re­duce de­pen­den­cy and build re­silience among cit­i­zens who are blind,” Suratt said.

The as­so­ci­a­tion al­so urged the Gov­ern­ment to re­view and in­crease the Dis­abil­i­ty As­sis­tance Grant, cur­rent­ly $2,000 per month, not­ing that many per­sons with dis­abil­i­ties con­tin­ue to face fi­nan­cial hard­ship amid ris­ing liv­ing costs.

It called for the ex­pan­sion of the Chron­ic Dis­ease As­sis­tance Pro­gramme (CDAP) to cov­er es­sen­tial sight-sav­ing med­ica­tions for glau­co­ma and di­a­bet­ic retinopa­thy, as well as ac­ces­si­ble blood-glu­cose test­ing kits for blind and vi­su­al­ly im­paired per­sons.

TTB­WA rec­om­mend­ed that the Min­istry of Health in­vest in ac­ces­si­ble re­frac­tive ser­vices and im­ple­ment a na­tion­al strat­e­gy to re­duce wait­ing times for cataract surgery.

The or­gan­i­sa­tion said the Gov­ern­ment should em­bed dis­abil­i­ty in­clu­sion across all min­istries, guid­ed by the UN Con­ven­tion on the Rights of Per­sons with Dis­abil­i­ties, the Na­tion­al Pol­i­cy on Per­sons with Dis­abil­i­ties, and the 2030 Sus­tain­able De­vel­op­ment Goals.

“A bud­get that re­spects di­ver­si­ty and hu­man rights is a bud­get that strength­ens democ­ra­cy, re­duces in­equal­i­ty, and builds re­silience,” Suratt said.

Mean­while, the Dif­fer­ent­ly-Abled Move­ment has called on the Gov­ern­ment to pri­ori­tise the needs of dif­fer­ent­ly-abled per­sons in Trinidad and To­ba­go in the na­tion­al Bud­get.

In a state­ment yes­ter­day, the move­ment, led by pres­i­dent Nekeisha Pierre, said the cur­rent dis­abil­i­ty grant falls short of cov­er­ing es­sen­tial needs and food. It al­so said se­cu­ri­ty is a ma­jor con­cern.

“We al­so call for an in­crease in ed­u­ca­tion, hous­ing, health ser­vices, se­cu­ri­ty, bet­ter em­ploy­ment op­por­tu­ni­ties, and more ac­ces­si­bil­i­ty in pub­lic spaces. It is cru­cial to en­sure the well-be­ing, rights, and in­clu­sion of per­sons liv­ing in Trinidad and To­ba­go,” the group said.

It al­so called on the Gov­ern­ment to con­sid­er the Unit­ed Na­tions char­ter for the rights of dis­abled per­sons in T&T.