CARIMAC Times 2016: The JREAM Edition Journalists Reviving Awareness of what Matters | Page 147

Those with physical disabilities were unable
to enter the classrooms. For individuals with
intellectual disabilities, the general school system
does not provide special education teachers to
facilitate their needs; and the hearing impaired
have had to attend specialised schools for
their form of disability. It was highlighted that
people with intellectual disabilities account for
the largest subset of the PWD community and
are also forced to attend specialised schools.
According to the JCPD, an intellectual disability
refers to a significant impairment in an individual’s
mental development, which manifests through
difficulty in learning and performing certain
daily living skills. This affects the ability to read,
write, reason, listen and speak. An individual
with an intellectual disability has difficulty
receiving and processing information, and
may have limitations in two or more social and

adaptive skill areas, such as communication,
socialisation, self-direction, leisure and self-care.
Accessing education
Hendricks told Carimac Times that specialised
education or separate education is not the
preferred mode although at this point, the
general school system cannot adequately
accommodate PWDs. The preference is for
children with disabilities to be integrated into
the general school setting, and to have teachers
be taught how to facilitate students with special
needs in the class.
“There is about 20 per cent of our schools that
can facilitate children with disabilities. There are
not very many schools that can accommodate
[children with disabilities] ... There are separate
schools that are special education schools but

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Former Minister of Labour and Social Security Derrick Kellier
Photo courtesy of Jamaica Information Service