My 2010 Year In Review

My year was filled with life changing decisions and experiences. On the 19th of February I decided to become a blogger. Since I needed somewhere to promote my blog, on the 28th of April I decided to create a facebook fan page called Equal Treatment for Disabled People. Well, creating this fan page was one of the best decisions that I've ever made. On the 4th of September I went to the United States for the first time. I had a great time while I was in the United States. Although 2010 was one of the best years of my life, I can't wait to see what 2011 has in store for me.

Going No Where Fast

Year after year we observe the International Day of Persons with Disabilities but what's the point? No, really, what is the point in observing a day when we still need to do something which some Typically Abled persons think is incredible like getting into a university in Trinidad and Tobago and coming out successful. Getting into a university is a great achievement for anyone. Differently Abled or Typically Abled, until we realise this, we won't be making any progress.

Boosting Our Tourism Sector

The Government of Trinidad and Tobago is always speaking about boosting our tourism sector. Well, I have some advice for the Government. Make our sidewalks easier for our visitors who are wheelchair users to access and this will boost our tourism sector. Buy buses which can transport our visitors who are wheelchair users along with their family and/or friends and this will boost our tourism sector. Install traffic lights which beep when they turn green so our blind visitors can cross the streets independently and this will boost our tourism sector. Make sure that our visitors who are wheelchair users can access our public buildings and this will boost our tourism sector.

Parliament Not Wheelchair Ready

If you are a wheelchair user in Trinidad and Tobago and you are considering getting into politics to get into parliament, you may want to reconsider doing so because the home of the Trinidad and Tobago parliament is not wheelchair accessible. Imagine that, the country’s parliament is not wheelchair accessible.

My Budget Response

As I said in one of my previous posts, if you are silent for too long in Trinidad and Tobago people tend to forget and neglect you. On the 8th of September the Government of Trinidad and Tobago announced its 2010 - 2011 National Budget and not one word was mentioned about the differently abled community. I read the budget yesterday and I did not even see the words disabled, differently abled or handicapped. I think that the National Budget should have been called the National Budget for able bodied people because it surely was not a National Budget for differently abled people.

Bad Service At Piarco

When I returned to Trinidad on Saturday night I thought that I would have gotten the great service that I got when I was leaving Trinidad but boy was I wrong... The wheelchair attendant had a bad attitude, the airport had a wheelchair attendant shortage, therefore, the wheelchair attendant left my mother and I to fend for ourselves for approximately seven to ten minutes, therefore, my mother had to push my wheelchair a little way but the wheelchair attendant did come back and push my wheelchair until we exited the airport.

How Hard Can It Be?

I am still in the United States and I have been going to malls, etc. All the public buildings that I have been to so far have been wheelchair accessible. I went to my brother's wedding at a church and even the church where the wedding was held was wheelchair accessible, even the bath rooms at the church were wheelchair accessible. How hard can making public buildings wheelchair accessible in little Trinidad and Tobago be?