Shaunette Grant (Left), coordinator of the Clarendon Group for the Disabled and Cathleen Johnson, a community rehabilitation therapist, attend to birds at the organisation's poultry farm at Woodside, in Clarendon.

Garfield L. Angus
JIS Writer

Marian Bartley was born with her palms almost totally deformed. "People used to laugh at me when they saw my hands, it made me feel very bad and, at times, I felt that living was not for me," she reflected.

Now, she is an able dressmaker; not only sewing her own clothes, she has made it her livelihood.

After six months with the Clarendon Group for the Disabled (CGD), her circumstances have changed for the better.

"After I started coming here, the people here mek mi feel good, them talk to mi nice, an show mi how fi duh lots a tings. Now mi can sew mi own clothes an people give mi work and pay me.

"Today I am on top of the world. If people love an respect disabled people the world would be better," a pensive Bartley disclosed.

The organisation came into existence in 1988, and since then it has been working with physically and intellectually challenged persons in Clarendon and also lobbying for them to receive better jobs and educational opportunities.

It was all about giving the disabled a voice, and contributing to their economic well being. The organising team included current chairman, Timothy Lankester, the late Ruth Derue, agriculturalist Trevor Martin, Haye Richards and Ruby Ennis.

The Clarendon Group operates a 6,000-capacity poultry farm in Woodside, just outside of May Pen, on property donated by Jamalco.

main focus

Funds raised from that venture are used to enable, and develop the abilities of the many children who visit their offices at 2A Palm Avenue, May Pen. This office also doubles as a counselling centre for parents, children and disabled persons.

Shaunette Grant is the coordinator for the Clarendon Group. The main focus of the group, she shared, is rehabilitation of individuals facing different challenges, but, on occasion, they are moved to defend the rights of disabled people.

"There are workplaces and schools in this parish where we have to lobby to ensure that the disabled are not discriminated against. Many times we have to point out that despite the challenges these persons face, they are human beings who can learn and work effectively once they are given the opportunity."

Pamela Copper, mother of 20-year-old Darrel Chambers, a former Jamaica College student, said her son had had a problem with one of his eyes since he was three months old and for six years she tried to get the problem diagnosed.

"From that time one of his eyes was just different from the other, and he just stared at nothing. When he got older and we were playing with him, he would move in directions where nobody was, and every doctor that I took him to told me that nothing was wrong with him," Copper recalled.

accomplishments

Then Geraldine Daley, rehabilitation nurse at the Clarendon Group for the Disabled, intervened.

The Lions Club in May Pen helped her to enrol him in the Salvation, School for the Blind and the Visually Impaired.

"The eye that gave him problems is almost gone, but his dream to study law is still alive, and all is due to how the people at CGD worked with him," Darrel's mother proudly stated.

Chairman of the organisation, Timothy Lankester, is elated with the accomplishments of his team.

"We modelled this movement after a group in Spanish Town called 3DS which did basically the same things that we are doing here in Clarendon.

"Our vision was to build an organisation that would help all disabled persons in the parish to get opportunities where they could perform to their optimal best," he added.

Through the help of Jamalco and other business entities in the parish, we have transformed the lives, and improved the well-being of many individuals that otherwise would have fallen by the wayside or be unable to realise their potential," Lankester informed.

For this to happen, training and education for the disabled should not be compromised and parents have to be vigilant in this quest. Special educator at the Mico University Care Centre in Mandeville, Maxine Anderson, said that parents must move early to access services that are available at schools and organisations for their children's special needs.

"We have seen situations where early interventions have had a positive impact on children with disabilities," Anderson explained.

Marian Bartley, like many others, is living that dream today and has great hopes for the future.

"I am sailing high, and the sky is the limit. Now I want to make the best clothes and make enough money to help other people learn to help themselves," she said.

This feature is a special JIS/Gleaner collaboration. Email feedback to editorial@gleanerjm.