Under the theme "Accessibility: Creating a more inclusive Nation," the St. Kitts-Nevis Association of Persons with Disabilities (SKNAPD) and the St. Kitts Society for the Blind are celebrating the third Annual Disability Awareness Month in May.

According to SKNAPD President Anthony A. Mills, for over a decade the Society for the Blind had celebrated what used to be called Blindness Awareness Month. After a conversation between the presidents of both organizations, an agreement was reached to expand the concept to include all persons with disabilities.

"We are trying to raise awareness and to get people to realize that persons with disabilities should be included in this society, as it would be better for the country as a whole," Mills told The Observer. "We hope that by the end of the year, people will have a better understanding, and begin to start treating persons with disabilities as equals."

He further noted that persons with disabilities were underrepresented both in the workplace and in government, leading to a critical lack of legislation that would help to improve the lives of association members.

On the first of May, the Minister with responsibility for Health, the Honourable Marcella Liburd, opened the month of activities related to disability awareness with an address to the Federation. Other associated events include a church service at the Seventh Day Adventist Church on Saturday, May 8.

During the first two weeks of month, Mills and Rockliffe Bowen, President of St. Kitts Society for the Blind, have both visited various schools throughout the island to speak to the students.

So far, Verchilds High School, Irish Town Primary School, and Beach Allen Primary School have welcomed the speakers. The visits are aimed at sensitizing students, and by extension the community, to the world of persons living with disabilities.

"Myself and the president for the Society of the Blind are going around to the schools and talking to the kids," said Mills. "We tell them about people who are disabled that have gone on to become professionals, like doctors and lawyers. This way, they will have the idea that persons with disabilities can accomplish whatever they put their minds to."

He indicated that he was very encouraged by the response from the students, who ask lots of questions during the school visits.

A continued focus for both organizations is to stress the national importance of more fully integrating disabled persons into society, so that each can be given the opportunity to become productive, independent citizens able to become valued contributors to the country's tax base.

The scope of the endeavor is international, as SKNAPD is a member organization of Disabled Peoples International (DPI), a grassroots, cross-disability network with member organizations in over 110 countries -- over half of which are in the developing world. DPI was one of the organisations which conferred with the United Nations when the Convention on Rights of Persons with Disabilities was drafted.

The Convention was adopted by the UN on December 13, 2006, and has the explicit purpose to promote, protect and ensure the full and equal enjoyment of all human rights and fundamental freedoms by all persons with disabilities, and to promote respect for their inherent dignity. As of March 31, the Convention had 144 signatories and 84 parties, but the Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis is not among them.

Persons with disabilities are defined by the Convention as those who have "long-term physical, mental, intellectual or sensory impairments, which in interaction with various barriers may hinder their full and effective participation in society on an equal basis with others."

Mills next major goal is to encourage legislative action in the Federation on the issue of changing the building codes to improve accessibility to disabled persons.

"We would like to see the building codes revised by the end of this year," he said, noting that significant economic benefits could accrue to the country by doing so.

"If you want to look at it from a tourism standpoint, if visitors with disabilities travel to the Federation and can't get around because the place is not accessible, it will cause businesses to lose money for that reason," he explained.

"It almost amounts to discrimination, because it's telling a certain set of people that 'We don't want your business.' We want to highlight these things so that local businesses can realize that it would be in their best interests to become accessible."