The next People's National Party (PNP) Government will establish the National Disability Fund (NDF) with specific allocations from the Consolidated Fund dedicated to financing initiatives to empower persons with disabilities.
The commitment was given on Tuesday by Opposition leader Mark Golding as he made his contribution to the 2025/26 Budget Debate in the House of Representatives.
“These initiatives will include funding the Jamaica Council for Persons with Disabilities; greater support for the major organisations catering to each disability group; funding for assistive technologies for persons with disabilities; improving sidewalks for use by persons with disabilities, and supporting the education of persons with disabilities at the tertiary level,” Golding said.
He pointed out that while the World Health Organization estimates that approximately 16 per cent of the country’s population has some form of disability, less than one per cent of the annual budget goes to addressing the needs of this community.
Golding argued that much more needs to be done to empower persons with disabilities to be fully included in all aspects of national life.
“With my family background, I am committed to making this happen. We must always remember that disability respects no-one, so we must create a society that is fully inclusive of all our citizens, mindful that any of us can become disabled at any time,” he said.
His father, the late Sir John Golding founded the Mona Rehab, later renamed the Sir John Golding Rehabilitation Centre, pioneering Jamaica’s only fully-integrated rehabilitation centre in response to the polio epidemic in the 1950s.
Sir John also founded the Hope Valley Experimental School as the only institution in Jamaica specifically dedicated to educating children with disabilities and able-bodied children together.
Golding noted that he has been around persons with disabilities all his life. He also extended congratulations to Jamaica’s Special Olympics team on their return from Italy where they won three gold medals, two silver and two bronze. “Jamaica is truly proud,” he said.
