Discrimination Face by Exception Adults and Children

Growing up, I have seen persons in my community discriminated against adults and children with some form of disability. I remember this challenged young boy in the 90s who would stay in class, so every day he would go over the basic school, and none of these teachers showed him any form of love and compassion, even students were unkind to him for years. Unfortunate no teacher took the time out to show this young boy love and compassion.

My husband and I  had our first child in 2013, we never knew that our child would have faced extra special needs, as the years went by, bringing him to get diagnosed both here in Jamaica and USA, was challenging. There were times we felt inadequate and as if we had failed because we would see other children in my son’s age group walking, talking, starting basic school, saying the first word, etc.

I remember clearly when our son, was about four or five and we were operating a business, and we were on the road about five to six days a week. People, who say “him no big boy, why is he still in a stroller” I remember a lady who I thought knew better, say “why you guys don’t put him in a home? Alternatively, sometimes people give you that stare as if we did something wrong as parents. One experience that hit my husband and I in our faces, was when some so-called relatives, suggested we place our son in a home. I am so grateful for the Love of Christ Jesus that I did not bother to answer back or retaliate.

There were days I cried, felt hopeless, but eventually, I had to get up and fight for our son, do some research, seek help. Our son is now eight years old, we got him into a school in 2020, which is one and a half hours from home, so we teach him at home and are monitored by his school. Unfortunately, the parish that we live in only has one special needs school, but they did not accept our son because he is not walking, etc. However, we will never lose hope; we will never give up on our handsome son.

What my husband came to realize, you can’t let people or the community let you feel bad about your disabled child or your special needs child or children. You just have to keep trusting God, fight for your rights, advocate or try to set up a special needs support group. Even though we have seen and experienced discrimination, we will keep fighting and do the best we can for our son and ensure that he enjoys life.