The Ministry of Youth, Social Development and Seniors urged people to reflect on Bermuda’s legacy of fighting for those with physical and mental challenges during Disability History Month.

The month began this week and runs until December 20.

A ministry statement highlighted how people with disabilities in Bermuda and elsewhere “often lived apart from community life, with limited opportunities and few supports” during the early 20th century, but pioneers such as Edna Watson, Bermuda’s first woman MP, delivered the foundations for change.

Ms Watson helped establish the Committee of 25 for Handicapped Children and the Children’s Convalescent Hospital in the 1950s.

Schools and community programmes for people with disabilities emerged in the following decades and advocates such as Kathleen Margaret Carter led stronger advocacy during the 1970s and 1980s.

Ms Carter helped expand accessible transport, opened facilities such as Summerhaven and led the Human Rights Act to incorporate disability in 1988.

The statement added: “In the 21st century, Bermuda introduced further measures to strengthen disability rights, including expanded definitions in the Human Rights Act, the introduction of reasonable accommodation provisions and ongoing policy work through national committees and advisory councils.”

The Government established the National Plan for Adults with Intellectual Disabilities in 2023, launched the National Disability Register and mobile application last year and became the first British Overseas Territory to adopt the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

The statement said: “Today, supported by the Disability Advisory Council and Ageing and Disability Services, the ministry continues to work towards improving accessibility, enhancing services, strengthening accountability across systems and ensuring that persons with disabilities are fully included in public life.

“Disability History Month offers an opportunity to recognise how far Bermuda has come while acknowledging the ongoing responsibility to remove barriers and create a society where everyone can participate equally.”

The ministry also thanked organisations supporting people with disabilities and their families — including Tomorrow’s Voices, Project Action, Vision Bermuda, Friends of Hope Academy and the Bermuda Hospitals Board.