The wife of Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley, Sharon Rowley, says Trinidad and Tobago is closer to introducing substantive legislation which will protect people with disabilities, as well as differently-abled people.
She was speaking during the Down Syndrome Network of Trinidad and Tobago’s tenth-anniversary observances yesterday on World Down Syndrome Day.
Mrs Rowley said Trinidad and Tobago is getting closer to following in the steps of countries such as the United States of America, United Kingdom and Australia, whose legislation prohibits discrimination against persons with disabilities in all areas of public life.
She also said people with Down syndrome should be encouraged to fulfil their potential and be provided with all the necessary tools to do so.
“If we walk in the shoes of that person with that extra chromosome, we will readily understand why it is imperative that persons with Down syndrome are not to be left on the margins of society. They must not face discrimination, they must not be denied the right to equal recognition before the law, they must not be deprived of their liberty, and they must not be denied access to mainstream education. It is our responsibility to ensure that the one in every 700 children who are born each year worldwide with that chromosome disorder are included in every facet of our lives.”
According to the Centre for Disease Control, a baby is born with 46 chromosomes on average. Babies with down syndrome have an extra copy of one of these chromosomes, Chromosome 21.
