By Hawkins Nanton, Gleaner writer 
Ann Marie Dobson
(foreground), a member of the planning
committee for persons with disabilities at University of the West Indies (UWI), addresses the launch of their 'Access For All' forum, at CARIMAC lecture room, UWI, Mona on Monday. The group aims to create a barrier-free environment for UWI students and staff with disabilities. - Winston Sill/Freelance Photographer
ANN MARIE Dobson is prodding the University of the West Indies (UWI) Mona Campus to provide more access and opportunities for disabled students.
The student who hails from Molyne's Road in St.Andrew, has been confined to a wheelchair most of her life.
She took the initiative on Monday afternoon when she launched 'Access For All', a project seeking to sensitise the public about daily challenges faced by disabled students in their quest for a tertiary level education and success that can be derived if the necessary opportunities are made to them.
Ms. Dobson's project highlighted the issue that despite the university's efforts over the years to provide facilities with easy access to physically challenged students, there is still more to be done if it is to provide equal opportunities for all.
The final year undergraduate student at the Caribbean Institute of Media and Communication (CARIMAC) showed a documentary to students which displayed the plight of disabled students who are still faced with the problems of having to climb flights of stairs to access some sections of the campus. This was considered risky since some of the stairs had no rails and some of the students using them were blind.
Dobson said she was hoping to stage two workshops that will be targeting administrators, lecturers and students.
But while it is Dobson's desire
to take the project beyond the perimeters of the UWI, she cannot do so at the moment because it is the intellectual property of the University of the West Indies.
INSPIRATION
Dobson said Livingston White, one of her lecturers at CARIMAC, inspired her to do the project.
In the keynote address, Garth Williams, a vice-president of the Guild of Students Committee, praised the UWI for its efforts in catering for its disabled students. He said it was opportunities made available to physically challenged people such as Stevie Wonder and Ray Charles which had helped them unlock their potential.
Williams proposed that the UWI and its partners create and expand the bursaries that are made available to students with special needs. He also appealed for an environment that would facilitate more disabled students accessing tertiary level education in the future.
"We should encourage them not only by making a physical environment free of barriers but also an environment that removes the financial barriers that exist," said the vice-president.
