Jamaica's 2010 Rhodes Scholar, Alecia Johns, chats with committee secretary Peter Goldson after the announcement was made at King's House last Friday. - Winston Sill/Freelance Photographer

The rights of disabled persons should be constitutionally enshrined to protect them from discrimination, Alecia Johns, the island's Rhodes Scholar for 2010, has argued.

Johns, 22, gained the nod for the scholarship last Friday ahead of seven other shortlisted candidates.

"The struggles of the disabled community are very real to me. I would love to see a lot of legal reform," Johns, a first-class honours-decorated final-year student at the University of the West Indies' Norman Manley Law School, told The Gleaner yesterday afternoon.

"I definitely have a passion for human rights and, particularly, working to champion the rights of the disabled. For example, the Constitution, as it is, does not prohibit using disability as grounds for discrimination.

"The Constitution states that we are not to discriminate on the grounds of race, gender, etc., but there is nothing to say one cannot discriminate because of a disability, and even in the newly proposed Charter of Rights, this hasn't been stated," added Johns, a Seventh-day Adventist, who has tutored disabled students. She also participates in Hands in Ministry, a church sign-language group, which caters to deaf congregants.

Fast thinker

The Rhodes Scholar, whose journey of academic excellence started at Wolmer's Preparatory and, later, Campion High, acknowledged that her love affair with law was honed in extra-curricular groups like debate clubs. In fact, she also credited her debating skills and the ability to think quickly on her feet for swaying the selection committee in her favour.

"His Excellency (Governor General Sir Patrick Allen) stated that the candidates were so close that it really came down to the speed of the responses, that was the tiebreaker. ... I attribute that to public speaking and debating."

Tough decision

Selection committee officials had also emphasised the candidates were almost inseparable.

"The candidates, generally, were very strong and very small in number," Peter Goldson, secretary of the Jamaica Rhodes Selection Committee, said on Friday. "They were close together, but the committee thought that Alecia Johns was the strongest candidate, and we really look forward to her going to Oxford University and doing well and making us proud."

Johns will read for the Bachelor of Civil Law, which is actually a master's degree, at Oxford in October 2010.

Rhodes Scholarships, issued mainly to citizens of some former British colonies, are awarded to elite candidates who have wracked up outstanding academic achievements. Strong moral character and an interest in social cases are indices which also play a major role. One Jamaican is awarded annually.

Johns, who has two sisters, has heaped praise on her parents, Patrick and Olive, for their insistence on making sure their girls were well schooled.

"My parents have definitely played an influential role in allowing me to reach this point," she said. "My parents have always been there for me, encouraging me to do well. It was just the right balance of encouragement, without undue pressure."

andre.wright@gleanerjm.com