Business has always been a part of me. When I was four years old, my mother opened a parlour because, in her assessment, no employer would allow her to skip work multiple times a month to take me to the hospital.
So, when I heard that the Trinidad and Tobago Blind Welfare Association (TTBWA) was working with the National Enterprise Development Company Limited (Nedco) to host a week-long training programme to help budding entrepreneurs get started, you can bet I jumped on it.
The training was hosted at the School for the Blind campus in Santa Cruz, and participants from Trinidad and TOBAGO even had the opportunity to stay on campus at no cost to ease transportation burdens.
For those of you who can see, you’ll note that I wrote Tobago in all caps, and that wasn’t just a random stylistic choice. Not at all. I did that because two visually impaired women were flown in from Tobago to participate. Which was, to me, the most interesting and exciting aspect of the workshop.
Usually, at things like these, we’re given the chance to give our commentary on the event. Usually, I don’t like to, but in this case, I had a lot of thoughts I wanted to share. We didn’t do that this time, somewhat to my relief. But I figured rather than wasting the brainpower, I may as well share it in the medium I enjoy the most. A column also gives me more breathing room to share my thoughts in more detail.
First off, there’s been a theme that’s come up repeatedly in my life and it came up in this workshop. That thing is sighted educators having no idea how to teach a blind student.
I remember window shopping primary schools across San Fernando with my mother. Not because Mah was super picky in that aspect; she knew what school she wanted me to go to. And I knew which I wanted to go to.
The desire was to send me to the school that my granny and grampa had went to. The school she and my uncles had. And, I wanted to go to the school my big brother was going to. It also helped that the school was two minutes away by foot.
The system, however, had different plans.
The family school had turned us away, and, so too did the half dozen or so others we went to. Strangely, the reason was similar.
“Our teachers aren’t trained to teach a blind child... Sorry.”
I don’t remember how it happened now, but I did end up getting into the family school. All that to say, the point is that from 2011 to this day in 2026, that exact argument has been thrown around over and over. It was a concern of the facilitators at this workshop, and apparently it was a concern at other workshops TTBWA held in the past.
Before I go on, I want to say that in all the cases where the presenters were on the fence, they did top-of-the-line work. This isn’t a critique of the facilitators from the Ministry of Labour or Nedco, it’s more of a questioning of the thinking.
I suppose there are certain sensitivities that may not be obvious to a sighted person to consider, for example identifying your voice or finding some way to identify who you’re talking to, but beyond that, is it that radically different to the point of being frightened?
Something I didn’t mention about my window-shopping experience was that the principals often redirected us to the Pointe-a-Pierre Special School. I think therein lies the real problem. Pointe-a-Pierre is mainly catered to students with intellectual challenges, and, as far as I’m aware, visual impairment is a physical challenge. Not an intellectual one. Each disability will have specific needs and approaches to teaching, so it is unwise to assume a one-brush approach will work for all.
Our trainers were great, and they were receptive about the things they didn’t know, but what they learnt in this class won’t work for a class of students who are hearing impaired. Nevertheless, they should walk into that class with as open a mind as they did ours. As I said in this space before, it’s OK to be ignorant, so long as you’re willing to learn.
The next thing that stuck out to me was that Senator Leroy Baptiste, who is the Minister of Labour, also paid us a visit. His presence was encouraging, at least to me, for several reasons.
Yes. There’s the basic thought that his presence suggests that to some degree, the cabinet is thinking about, talking about, and doing something about, uplifting the VI community.
Yes. His presence alone is bringing media attention to blind people doing something beyond being wards of caregivers and the state, or making baskets.
But I think there was no better person to be present than Mr Baptiste.
As a union man, he is very aware, more so than most people, about the struggles workers often face. I opened this column discussing how traditional 8-4 employment would be near impossible for my mother due to the cold calculation of worker productivity. And, I’ve written in this space about the difficulty in visually impaired people being gainfully employed.
The point of a business is to maximise profits. To some businesses, too often they get zero when solving for human impact.
When a blind person walks into an interview, the HR officer doesn’t see a potential asset. They see someone who the company will have to spend $$$ on ever so often to provide them with what they view as unnecessary accommodations.
Business people have the whip hand over blind people. That’s the reality. A sighted person can go and cut a yard or push a trolley at a grocery if they have no other option. Meanwhile, a blind person withers away mentally and physically, while their dignity is stripped every month by the disability grant. Which is about 40 per cent less than a minimum wage worker earns, by the way.
Thus, self-employment, entrepreneurship, call it what you like, is a lifeline. A defensive measure to live a dignified, high-quality life.
Hopefully, my assessment about Senator Baptiste is right and the Government continues to support programmes like this one for real. Not just rhetorically.
Ultimately, the week was a great one. My fellow participants and myself learnt more than we ever did about business, while our facilitators walked away with the cataracts cut off their eyes.
I’m sure that those of us who participated in the workshop will go forth and use their hands for the good of the community and the betterment of themselves.
And, save a couple million tax dollars while we’re at it.
This column is supplied in conjunction with the T&T Blind Welfare Association
Headquarters: 118 Duke Street, Port-of-Spain, Trinidad
Email: ttbwa1914@gmail.com
Phone: (868) 624-4675
WhatsApp: (868) 395-3086
