A STANDARD CODE encompassing transport, infrastructure and a building code, is what political consultant and pollster Peter Wickham wants to see implemented across the region to assist the disabled.

He recently told the small group which turned out for a panel discussion on CSME, Its Relevance, Opportunities Or Challenges For Persons With Disabilities at the Barbados Public Workers Credit Union, Belmont Road, St Michael, that although they were too quiet and should speak loudly and agitate more, they had come a long way.

He said the facilities for the disabled across the region were very limited or non-existent and as much as they thought Barbados was bad, it might be worse elsewhere.

The pollster, who works throughout the region, said: "A lot of the problems of the Single Market and Economy in the short-term really relate to workers who are skilled in a way disabled persons tend not to be.

"So for this reason you are not likely to be in any front line discussions taking place because the vast majority of disabled workers are not now working on any construction sites or not in a way that is conspicuous," Wickham said.

He said the vast majority of disabled people in the region lacked the independence that those in international or metropolitan countries did.

Wickham congratulated the National Disabilities Unit and the Barbados National Organisation of the Disabled for organising the discussion, saying it was important to bring the disabled into discussion of this nature.

Chief Research Officer in the Prime Minister's Office, Andrea Symmonds, said she hoped that the members of Barbados' disabled community would, along with others, move throughout the region and agitate for space. (DS)