Earl Moxam, Senior Gleaner Writer

The Combined Disabilities Association (CDA) made a belated appearance last Wednesday before the joint select committee of Parliament considering changes to laws targeting sex offenders.

In the formal presentation by Theresa Grant, Social Affairs Officer at the CDA, there were two main recommendations for changes in the relevant laws.

One was a call for the removal of politically incorrect terms such as "idiots" and "imbeciles" from the statutes. These were terms imported into the language of old Jamaican statutes from Britain during colonial times, and members of the committee had already unanimously agreed to remove them.

The second recommendation was for an end to discrimination in the penalties applied for abuse of women suffering from such mental disabilities as against other women.

Senator A.J Nicholson, chairman of the joint select committee, was taken aback when it was brought to his attention that the penalties for sexually abusing those women having a mental disability were less than the penalties for the same offences against other women. He readily agreed that this should be changed.

Wide range of barriers

Beyond the specific law reform recommendations, however, Ms. Grant highlighted a wide range of barriers encountered on a daily basis by disabled persons in their quest for justice and protection under the law.

She said that, in addition to the frequent instances of carnal abuse, rape and sexual harassment, which women generally encountered, those with disabilities also faced the additional hazards of forced abortion, sterilisation and denial of sex education.

"We have a right to experience our sexuality in a manner comfortable to us. Violations of our rights to have children, rear a family and to choose with whom we have or do not have sex is a crime," she asserted.

Against that background, she recommended that persons with mental retardation should be protected under the Child Care and Protection Act, or other relevant legislation. Modern technology should be acquired, she recommended, to assist in obtaining evidence for conviction of sexual abusers. The justice system, at present, places persons who are mentally retarded and blind persons "at a great disadvantage in terms of proof", she said.

The CDA spokeswoman was less than flattering in her assessment of the competence of most police personnel, lawyers and judges in their interactions with disabled persons. Not many of them can communicate with persons who are hearing impaired, she said, while women who are blind are viewed as incapable of identifying their attackers, "and even when they can, they are not believed".

Careful consideration

Committee Member Olivia 'Babsy' Grange, clearly moved by the impassioned presentation, sought to assure Grant and other members of the CDA present, that careful consideration would be given to all their recommendations and the appropriate action taken.

That sentiment was echoed by other members of the committee, who also commended the CDA for highlighting some of the challenges the more than 160,000 Jamaicans with various forms of disabilities face on a daily basis.