Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Joy St John presents a beaming Anastasia Pollard with her prizes for most outstanding student in the Education Unit.
New legislation which prohibits discrimin-ation in employment on the basis of race, colour, sex, ethnic origin as well as disability is being finalised.
Minister of Labour, Social Security and Human Resource Development, Senator Dr the Hon. Esther Byer Suckoo, said that the Anti-Discrimination in the Workplace Act speaks to the right of people to be treated equally.
“In essence, what it says is that you cannot discriminate against a person in the workplace – give them different tasks, treat them differently because of their gender, colour, race, political affiliation, illness or disability… This is now in the new legislation that we are finalising”.
The Senator was at the time addressing the 2017 graduation and awards ceremony for students of the Albert Cecil Graham Development Centre, held recently at the Donald Henry Auditorium, Bethel Methodist Church.
With responsibility for employment, Dr Byer- Suckoo, also shared that the Employment Rights Act, offers protection of workers against unfair dismissal – the dismissal because an employee is or was a disabled person.
“We included unfair dismissal legislation which says it is unfair if an employer dismisses a person because of a disability, because they are not able to do a particular task. The legislation goes onto say that the employer needs to tweak the task or find something else for the employee to do, you can’t just dismiss the worker because of their disability”.
“This is important when we think of our children here today who were born with a disability or developed a disability very early in life. But, remember we are just one accident, one injury, one illness away from being disabled and we expect to continue to participate in our society. We would expect to continue to find work and where possible not have to rely on welfare…We know the sense of gratification when we work and are paid, are we don’t want to deprive any person – even a person a disability of having that,” she said.
The Albert Cecil Graham Development Centre (Formerly the Children’s Development Centre) caters to individuals from birth to18 years old with disabilities. Coordinator, Grace Mayers thanked parents for their willingness to help and participate in the centre’s various activities.
She also urged parents to continue to push and have faith in their children; always encouraging them to be the best that they can be.
“The future holds many challenges but also successes, always remember that the word ‘ability’ comes out of ‘disability’…Do not give up on your child, the system or the future for when you least expect it something usually happens,” Mayers said.
During the ceremony, the students from the Day Care, Education and Workshop Units, some of who will be moving onto the Challenor Creative Arts and Training Centre and the Derrick Smith School & Vocational Centre, were recognised for their hard work.
The most outstanding student in the Day Care Unit was Chad Giddings; while Anastasia Pollard and Brandon Morris received the most outstanding student awards in the Education and Workshop Units, respectively. (TL)