The National Disabled Persons’ Network (NDPN) intends to make a “positive noise” as it shares awareness of the capacity of disabled people, its Chairman Lloyd Griffith has said.
A conference held at the Umana Yana on Tuesday under the theme ‘Visible, Valuable and Vibrant – The Contribution of Persons with Disabilities’ also aimed at highlighting the capabilities of disabled people and the ways in which they can contribute to the development of Guyana.
Griffith told Stabroek News that the theme points to how, in today’s society, disabled persons are viewed as individuals who aren’t capable of doing anything. He said his goal is to highlight how wrong this stereotype is and to show how valuable disabled people are to the home, organisation and the country.
Griffith added that the organisation hopes that it can reach out to other persons with and without disabilities who are contributing to the awareness.
The Persons with Disabilities Act which was passed in 2010, he mentioned, was a great step forward but he is not satisfied with the progress from then to now. He continued that the NDPN hopes to have high-powered organisations involved in the cause.
The NDPN aimed to have representatives of the ministries of Education, Health, Labour and Human Services and Social Security present at the conference. However, only the ministries of Health and Human Services and Social Security were represented.
Griffith said representatives of NDPN from regions two, four, five, six and seven prepared various projects for their respective regions to emphasise that they are able to accomplish any task given to them. “We don’t give up,” was Griffith’s last remark to Stabroek News.
