Uphill battle persists for island on accessibility for all
Zeroing in on a dearth of accessible options for people confronting special needs and disabilities in Bermuda tops the list for one charity’s mission in the year ahead.
Rebecca Lawrence and Brianna Ball-Roach, the founders of Beyond Inclusion, said the island still had plenty of work ahead to ensure members of the disabled community are treated with equity, kindness and inclusion.
With Bermuda now signatory to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, the group sees more pressure to take action.
The charity is launching a fundraising drive to do more and provide a fully staffed travel experience for eight of its members, noting that many of them only get to travel for medical reasons.
Ms Ball-Roach told The Royal Gazette: “One of the biggest challenges we face is the lack of truly accessible options across the island.
“This includes everything from public services and buildings, access to community and cultural events, accessible transportation and parking and having accessible portable toilets at outdoor community events.
“There are even policies within our social services that unintentionally create barriers for a person to maintain access to services or even travel for the sake of leisure.
“It’s been just over a year since Bermuda adopted the extension of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which means we now have an even greater responsibility to uphold principles of inclusion and accessibility.
“This is such an important step in the right direction and at the same time, we still have a long way to go to ensure that these principles are fully realised and implemented, from practical accessibility improvements to mindset shifts so that people with support needs can live, work and participate in the community on an equitable basis.”
Beyond Inclusion was involved in reviewing the Human Rights Commission’s Disability Inclusion Report, published in July, prior to its public release. Members participated in some of its focus groups to provide input.
Key findings from the survey revealed that close to half of respondents with disabilities reported discrimination and discriminatory harassment.
Accessibility across Bermuda was rated poorly, with people with support needs reporting a particularly low average score of 3.83 out of 10, and many respondents were unaware of their legal rights and Bermuda’s duties.
The consultation identified ten priority areas for significant and measurable progress, starting with representation whereby all disability-related initiatives must be guided by those with disabilities.
Ms Lawrence said: “We fully support the goals and recommendations outlined and encourage everyone to take a read through by visiting the Human Rights Commission’s website www.humanrights.bm.
“We’d also like to thank the commission for its efforts to create greater awareness on the rights of everyone, including persons with disabilities.”
Ms Ball-Roach added: “We have collaborated with a range of organisations over the past three years on different events, training workshops, advocacy and accessibility initiatives. We’re very grateful for the opportunity to form new relationships.
“Many of these connections have been facilitated by our amazing board members, who have generously shared their personal and professional networks to help us expand our reach, and we’re incredibly grateful for their continuous contributions and support.
“We also look forward to continuing to grow these partnerships in the coming years to create even more inclusive opportunities for individuals with support needs.”
Beyond Inclusion has made a point of creating inclusive events to help to combat social isolation, which can be a challenge for some people with disabilities and special needs.
Rebecca Lawrence, a founder of the charity, said: “Launching Beyond Inclusion was vital because we know that social connection, belonging and purpose are not luxuries to have. They’re essential to a person’s quality of life.
“When those are missing, the impact is profound. The World Health Organisation has long identified social isolation as a public health issue that leads to poorer outcomes and shorter life expectancy, especially for individuals with support needs, and this is exactly what Beyond Inclusion is aiming to combat.
“We also noticed that as Diversity, Equity and Inclusion conversations grew globally, the needs of individuals with support needs were often unintentionally missing from the push for inclusion.
“Beyond Inclusion is a response to that gap in advocacy as well. Our motivation stems from our belief that inclusion is really the bare minimum and that in order to create true belonging, we have to go beyond token gestures and actively remove the barriers that prevent equitable access to services, community life and opportunities, or as we like to say, we have to go beyond inclusion.”
Brianna Ball-Roach, charity cofounder, added: “We’ve just entered our third year of operations as of October, and this past year has been our most exciting one yet as it relates to our expansion beyond the regular monthly outings and community events we offer.
“Recently, we’ve had the opportunity to participate in focus groups, deliver professional development across various sectors, conduct accessibility consultations and create greater awareness through public advocacy, which all contribute to our efforts to shift mindsets so that inclusion is embedded into every day practice.
“We’ve also continued to build our community while adding new initiatives along the way. Our free, inclusive and accessible events like Spring Fling, ‘Tis the Season and Trunk or Treat have welcomed hundreds of people, including our participants, their families and members of the wider community.
“Our social outings have remained a constant, taking place multiple times each month where we’ve watched friendships form, confidence grow and people experience spaces where they can relax, feel safe and truly belong.”
One of the main goals for Beyond Inclusion in the year ahead is to be able to introduce free memberships for all participants. The charity is asking the donor community to consider giving funds to help it to achieve its goals.
Ms Lawrence said: “Beyond Inclusion was never designed to be a profitable venture and our pricing model has always been set as low as possible because access matters more to us than revenue.
“This matters so much to us that we self-funded our entire first year to ensure that people could participate without waiting for outside support.
“We know that financial accessibility is just as important as physical or environmental accessibility which is why we’re actively seeking donor partnerships that will help remove those remaining barriers and allow everyone, regardless of income or circumstance, to have equal access to connection, community and meaningful experiences.
“We are intentional about keeping our operational costs down. Both of us continue to work full-time jobs in this field because we want donor funds to go directly into programming, not salaries, and it’s important to us that every dollar possible goes back into creating opportunities for the people we serve.”
Beyond Inclusion was born out of a series of conversations between Ms Ball-Roach and Ms Lawrence after noticing gaps that existed in Bermuda in social and recreational opportunities for those with special needs and disabilities.
It officially became a registered charity in October 2024. Armed with its charity status, it hopes to grow its impact and welcome partnerships with funders who share its vision of “a truly inclusive Bermuda”.
Ms Lawrence said: “Our mandate is simple, but urgent — to close service gaps and help build a truly inclusive and accessible Bermuda for individuals with support needs.
“The way we work towards that is by offering inclusive and accessible community events, social outings, advocating for better systems, providing professional development training and conducting accessibility audits across the island.”
Over the past year, not including the events held, Beyond Inclusion has offered more than 85 opportunities for individuals with support needs to take part in social and recreational activities across both of its programmes, the Crew group for adults and Buddies group for children aged 3 to 12.
“Our community events have provided opportunities to hundreds of individuals with support needs and their families as well as the wider community,” Ms Lawrence said.
For more information about the charity, visit www.beyondinclusionbda.com.
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