As our beloved Trinidad and To­ba­go cel­e­brates 63 years of In­de­pen­dence to­mor­row (Au­gust 31), we pause to re­flect on how far we have come as a peo­ple, and how much fur­ther we must go to en­sure that the promise of in­de­pen­dence is tru­ly re­alised by all.

In­de­pen­dence in 1962 was more than the low­er­ing of one flag and the rais­ing of an­oth­er. It was an op­por­tu­ni­ty to shape a so­ci­ety ground­ed in jus­tice, equal­i­ty, and par­tic­i­pa­tion. Yet, for many per­sons who are blind and vi­su­al­ly im­paired, and for thou­sands of cit­i­zens with oth­er dis­abil­i­ties, that promise re­mains un­ful­filled.

True in­de­pen­dence is not just about sov­er­eign­ty, it is about in­clu­sion. A na­tion can­not call it­self free if seg­ments of its pop­u­la­tion re­main ex­clud­ed from ed­u­ca­tion, em­ploy­ment, health­care, trans­porta­tion, cul­ture, and so­cial life be­cause of in­ac­ces­si­ble sys­tems or dis­crim­i­na­to­ry prac­tices.

That is why I, on be­half of the Trinidad and To­ba­go Blind Wel­fare As­so­ci­a­tion, am call­ing up­on the Gov­ern­ment to en­act spe­cif­ic, com­pre­hen­sive dis­abil­i­ty leg­is­la­tion in line with the Unit­ed Na­tions Con­ven­tion on the Rights of Per­sons with Dis­abil­i­ties (UN­CR­PD).

Such laws must re­quire that:

• Every na­tion­al pol­i­cy, pro­gramme, and ser­vice in­cludes pro­vi­sions for per­sons with dis­abil­i­ties.

• Prod­ucts and ser­vices are de­signed for all users through uni­ver­sal de­sign prin­ci­ples.

• Com­pli­ance is not op­tion­al but manda­to­ry, backed by clear ac­count­abil­i­ty mea­sures.

Our na­tion’s watch­words, Dis­ci­pline, Tol­er­ance, and Pro­duc­tion, re­main as rel­e­vant to­day as they were at In­de­pen­dence. Dis­ci­pline de­mands that we ac­cept re­spon­si­bil­i­ty for pro­tect­ing the rights of all cit­i­zens.

Tol­er­ance calls us to em­brace the di­ver­si­ty of our peo­ple. Pro­duc­tion chal­lenges us to har­ness the tal­ents of every cit­i­zen, in­clud­ing those with dis­abil­i­ties, in build­ing our econ­o­my and so­ci­ety.

Equal­ly, our na­tion­al mot­to, “To­geth­er We As­pire, To­geth­er We Achieve,” must be put in­to prac­tice.

As­pi­ra­tion with­out in­clu­sion is in­com­plete. Achieve­ment with­out ac­ces­si­bil­i­ty leaves too many be­hind.

As we raise our red, white, and black this In­de­pen­dence Day, let us move be­yond sym­bol­ism to­ward sub­stance. Let us com­mit to a Trinidad and To­ba­go that is di­verse, eq­ui­table, ac­ces­si­ble, and sus­tain­able - a na­tion where no cit­i­zen is left be­hind.

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