ccb eye care caribbean bulletin - international womens day 2012

8/2/2019 CCB Eye Care Caribbean Bulletin - International Womens Day 2012

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INTERNATIONAL WOMENS DAY 2012

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Regional Governments urged to place more emphasis on women who areblind and visually impaired

I dont think we as groups representing disabled persons are doing enough advocacy work ....we need tofocus more on issues relating to women

(Lola Marson, C.Sw, B.Sc-Sw (Hons) DPA, M.Sc.)

Celebrating International Womens Day

President of the Caribbean Council for the Blind

(CCB), Lola Marson, has called on Governments

across the Caribbean to place more emphasis on

highlighting the plight of women who are blind and

visually impaired .

In an interview to markInternational Womens Day,

the CCB President, who is also the Executive

Director of the Jamaica Society for the Blind,

appealed to groups representing the disabled to

increase their visibility.

I dont think that groups representing persons who are

disabled are doing enough advocacy work. In times goneby we used to be more visible, but now people are focused

on getting bread on the table, therefore some things get

swept under the table. We are not focusing enough on

issues relating to women, in particular.

She pointed to another area of concern - that of

rehabilitation (adjustment to blindness) for women

who have lost their sight.

There are a number of issues that women face, for

instance, (usually) there are more males than females

being rehabilitated, when research has found that the

majority of persons who are blind tend to be women.

The CCB President noted that public education must

continue to play a major role in highlighting the

challenges facing women who are blind or visually

impaired.

If you have no sight and you have not adjusted to the

situation; if you are not able to get out and know thatthere are training institutions and you do not seek help,

you wont be able to liberate yourself. You have to try and

access all that is there she said.

The Caribbean Council for the Blind estimates that

there are more than sixty thousand (60,000) persons

living with blindness across the Anglophone

Caribbean. A further one hundred and eighty

thousand (180,000), though not blind, have lost

enough sight to be classified as visuallyhandicapped.

As we celebrate International Womens

Day 2012, CCB remains committed to

fulfilling its purpose of preventing

blindness and visual impairment while

restoring sight and creating

opportunities for those whose sight

cannot be restored.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WvBn_0yJS5s
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WvBn_0yJS5shttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WvBn_0yJS5shttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WvBn_0yJS5shttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WvBn_0yJS5s


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My Blindnes Was Ordained

I cannot let my colleagues see me as anything less than they are. I want to be their equal not a dependant,they cannot see me as anything less.

The Honourable Kerryann F. Ifill - Deputy President of the Senate, Barbados


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!

From the corridors of the Combermere School onthe island of Barbados to the halls of Parliament,Kerryann Ifill's journey has been nothing butremarkable.

Having overcome many obstacles, on February 4,2008, she proudly took the oath as one of twelveGovernment Senators appointed by the then PrimeMinister of Barbados, the late David Thompson.

Not only did members of her immediate family beamwith pride on that day, but so did the nation ofBarbados; and as the word spread members of thecommunity of blind and visually impaired worldwidetook notice. The significance of this is that Kerryann,who was born in 1974, is blind and has been since theage of four but her blindness has never hindered her.

"I had juvenile cataracts, a hereditary condition.Somewhere in treating it (the cataracts), something wentwrong and my retinas became permanently damaged. Soeven though they removed one cataract, it did not doanything. So I have no light perception and less than onepercent of the blind population has to deal with that, for mesight just does not exist.

But there are vivid memories of having sight.

"I remember colors; my favourite memory is watching thesunset and birds flying home. Those two things are the

memories I hold dearest. I can vaguely remember what mymother looks like and my family and home. But the sunset,that part of it when the sun looks as though it has justburst into flames, when the whole sky lights up like thismagnificent fire. That's my favorite memory.

For the first few months after she lost her sight,Kerryann stayed at home and in her words - doingabsolutely nothing.

"I did nothing all day but sat in chair, swinging my feetand being bored stiff.

She spent six months in the United States and onreturning to Barbados was enrolled in the IrvinWilson School for the Blind.

"From then on, I had a normal existence more or less; yes,it was a totally different existence; the School only had sixpupils; they were of varying ages so it wasn't the same kind

of socialization process."

While at the Irvin Wilson School for the Blind, life, forKerryann, was good. She recalls having a typicalchildhood and even occasionally getting into trouble.

"I got into mischief like anyone else. I remember at 8 yearsold jumping up in the laundry that my poor grandmotherhad folded. She was royally mad and came to spank myselfand my two cousins. I remember telling her that I wasalready blind and she wanted to punish me. I got lashesstill, which on reflection now, she was right, so being blind

was not an excuse.

Combermere Days

The years rolled by quickly and very soon her greatestdesire was to go to Secondary School. Her School ofchoice was Combermere. She recalls beinginterviewed by a Journalist from a local newspaper.

"It (the article) was just about me and my life and what Idid and didn't do. What he (the journalist) asked was if Ihad any wishes. Most people would believe that if you havea disability, your wish would be not to have that disability,but that wasn't mine. My wish was that I would get intosecondary school for just one day, only one day.

And that's where the then Minister of Youth Affairs,Keith Simmons stepped in.

He read the article and didn't see why I should only go forone day; he tried to make it happen and so he did. ThatSeptember at the age of 14, I became a Second FormStudent at Combermere School and I am a proudCombermerian from that day until now.

Kerryann made history not only at Combermere, butin Barbados.

"It (Combermere) was as integrated as they could make it.At the time, I was the first student who was totally blind togo to a mainstream School. I tell people that my blindnesswas not something that happened by accident, it wasordained. My stars just fell into alignment; even by theway I got into Secondary School.


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"I remember thatfirst

morning.everybody knewthat this thing was happening.

Reporters were all over the place; there were phone callsfrom as early as five o'clock in the morning. .I remembergoing to the Principal's Office, my Form Teacher came to bewith me and she took me to prayers. And I remembersitting in the front row at the very end on the right- handside of the Hall. The first Hymn I sang that morning wasMorning Has Broken and it was one of the few Hymns Iknew by heart. That is how I knew I belonged, because I gotto sing every word of my first Hymn in Secondary School!So, not even the Hymn I was left out of. But that wasn'tall. I also remembered when they announced that I waspresent, there was this cheer that went through the wholeHall. I have never felt so much apart of anything in my lifeas I did that moment. That is why I will never be anythingbut a proud Combermerian!

However despite the overwhelming feeling of nowbeing a Combermerian, there were challenges.

"Now I became more aware of the challenges; remember thisis before technology.. I had to take to School my PerkinsBraille machine; you know that isnt small. It was in a boxthat was heavy; then I had a manual typewriter and myschool bag. I kid you not. I quickly made lots of friends andit became the thing to be carrying Kerry's stuff.

There was another challenge, the biggest one of all forthis new High School student was that of gettingtextbooks.

"It's the biggest challenge students who are visuallyimpaired still face now, although the Caribbean Council forthe Blind (CCB) had started a programme at the timetranslating texts into Braille; that got off the ground when Iwas in Sixth Form

Before that, my books were done in Canada. They were sentto Barbados through the Diplomatic channels. A lot of theFarm Workers also brought boxes home with them as partof the way to help me. I don't know any of their names, butI am always grateful to those who helped out by bringingthose boxes down with them. It was difficult, but that was

the biggest challenge, to overcome I used to take copiousnotes in class.

"Slow down Kerry"

The Teachers at Combermere helped as best they

could; as a result they would read the notes aloudinstead of writing on the blackboard.

"The students liked that because they didn't have to look atthe board; the plus too is that if they got me angry, I wouldwrite really, really fast and the students would shout "slowdown Kerry!

Regret and highlights

Seated in her office at the Barbados Council for theDisabled, Kerryann shared one of her greatest

disappointments in life - that of wanting to be anAttorney-at-Law.

"I remember when I was in Third Form, the GuidanceCounsellor came around and she told me that I couldn't bea Lawyer because I wouldn't be able to see to defend myclients. She was the professional, so I took her advice. Ipersonally never knew any Lawyer who was blind, so forme it was just a dream. Since then, I don't think I reallycame up with the right career, because I never feltcomfortable with any other career than Law. Even thoughnow I know I can still do it, it's a whole new direction totake in my life right now.

So with her dreams of being a Lawyer dashed,Kerryann turned to her second love and studiedSociology and Psychology at the Cave Hill Campus ofthe University of the West Indies in Barbados, whereshe holds the distinction of being the first student whois blind on that Campus. Graduating from Cave Hillwith Upper Second Class Honours was anotheraccomplishment.

"The reason being when I got into Combermere, they said itwas because the Minister felt I should be there. When I gotinto Cave Hill, it's because I had the A Levels to back itup . When I graduated with Upper Seconds, I felt really,really good. I did my MBA with the Durham BusinessSchool - that was another big highlight.


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Work life

"By default, I have ended up in the field of Disability. For along time, I fought against it in the sense that I didn't wantto be pigeon- holed,and I still don't.But I think this iswhere I need to befor now, workingwith Disabilities.

But herachievements didnot end there.

"I did BallroomDancing, the firstperson who is blindto do that - up to the Silver Level in Ballroom Dancing.There is nothing that I haven't wanted to do that I haven'tdone. I am the Superintendent of my Sunday School becauseI love working with children. I've done Crocheting and I'minvolved with assistive technology and that has become mypassion because it has equalized things for the disabled, andso I want other persons who are blind and visually impairedto experience the freedom I feel when I sit down in front ofmy computer.

Senator the Honourable Kerryann Ifill

Becoming a Senator was another highlight. Years ago,

Kerryann declared that she would never ever getinvolved in Politics - her reason? - "I love to sleep atnights.

Little did she know how things were about to changefollowing the General Elections held on January 15,2008 when the Democratic Labour Party (DLP) wonand the late David Thompson was appointed PrimeMinister.

"Imagine my dismay when I got a call a week later sayingthey were considering me for the post of Senator , but

they were considering other people so for me it was not a bigdeal. The 30th of January came along and I got a call sayingthis is David Thompson - now everyone in Barbados knewwho David Thompson was; how do you tell the PrimeMinister no? I was sitting in the office and when I hung upthe phone one of my friends came in; I could only say I haveto go to the bathroom!

I could not get this thing fathomed in my brain. I reconciledmyself to being a Senator and I went to the swearing-in andall that went fine.

By now she had accepted the fact that she was now a

Senator and the first Senator who is visually impaired.However, another surprise was in store.

After the swearing-in at Government House, the youngestSenator at the time was 25 years old; he and I were the twoyoungest. We were standing together, and he said we shouldget used to being together - the Clerk of Parliament who was

standing close-by said not necessarily. I was further shockedon the opening of Parliament when I was told that the PrimeMinister wanted me to serve as Deputy President - I said isthis man for real?

Senator Kerryann Ifill has used this platform andothers to highlight the plight of the Disabled.

"When I go to Parliament, I walk with a cane 99 percent ofthe time; my main reason is that I cannot let my colleaguessee me as anything less than they are. I want to be theirequal not a dependant; they cannot see me as anything less.

When the young Senator demitted office, I realised that I haddone myself a disservice because we were always in eachothers company so much that people in Parliament wereasking how I was going to manage without him being there.I had to curb that and become aggressively independent.

Concerning support for the disabled across the region,Kerryann believes that Governments need to placemore emphasis on educating and employing thedisabled.

"Even though more of our children are getting into school,

we still have a long way to go; even though you're getting togo to school, then what? Where do you go after you leaveschool? What do you do?

Employment is another major area, in all of the territoriesthey still have the old- fashioned Sheltered Workshopenvironment; those have long gone the way of the dinosaur;not that we don't need Centers of that nature; we do, but notconstructed as they were 50 years ago; not just as a place of

segregation; wedon't live in a vacuum.For Kerryann Ifill, life is all about challenges. My lifehas been a

constant streamof "for real"moments.

One thing sheknows for sure,her blindnesswas ordained.


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DID YOU KNOW?

Women in developing

countries are more likely than

men to have cataract blindnessand vision loss.

According to the World Health

Organisation (WHO), women

account for approximately

64% of the blind population.

Two out of every three persons

who are blind are women

Explore the stories of two other remarkable

Caribbean women.

Hyacinth Daniel-A Journey of Faith

She has climbed the famous Pitons in herhomeland of St Lucia; she loves a good game ofcricket and is proud of her accomplishments - alldone since losing her sight over twenty years ago.(http://eyecarecaribbean.com/our-work-in-st-lucia/a-

journey-of-faith)

Juliettes Reality(Overcomingtragedy)

When I turned I saw that man, Matha. When I

tried to run, he stepped on the back of my shoe and

I fell flat on my belly and he continued chopping

me, on my ear, my eyes, my hands,

(http://eyecarecaribbean.com/eye-on-sight/eye-on-sight-issue-4-january-2012

This bulletinhas been produced with the assistance of our partnersincluding:

The European Union

Sightsavers

St. Lucia BlindWelfare Association

Barbados Association for the Blind and Deaf

The contents of this publication are the sole responsibility of CCB/Eye Care

Caribbean and can in no way be taken to reflect the views of our Partners
http://eyecarecaribbean.com/eye-on-sight/eye-on-sight-issue-4-january-2012http://eyecarecaribbean.com/eye-on-sight/eye-on-sight-issue-4-january-2012http://eyecarecaribbean.com/eye-on-sight/eye-on-sight-issue-4-january-2012http://eyecarecaribbean.com/eye-on-sight/eye-on-sight-issue-4-january-2012http://eyecarecaribbean.com/our-work-in-st-lucia/a-journey-of-faithhttp://eyecarecaribbean.com/our-work-in-st-lucia/a-journey-of-faithhttp://eyecarecaribbean.com/our-work-in-st-lucia/a-journey-of-faithhttp://eyecarecaribbean.com/our-work-in-st-lucia/a-journey-of-faith

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