The Jamaican Minister of State in the Ministry of Labour and Social Security is currently in Bermuda delivering motivational talks, including one at the Bermuda Underwater Exploration Institute tonight.

Senator Floyd Morris was a guest in Senate yesterday morning with Health and Family Services Minister, Patrice Minors who invited Mr. Morris to Bermuda in celebration of Access Awareness Week. The theme of this year?s week long program is ?The Blind have vision too? and what makes Mr. Morris exceptional is that he overcame the hurdle of blindness to become a prominent member of the Jamaican Government.

Ms Minors was so impressed with Mr. Morris in his role at the Caribbean Ministerial Conference on Disability in May last year, that she invited him to Bermuda. He will deliver his address, entitled ?Confronting the challenge, grasping the opportunity? at BUEI tonight.

In an informal interview outside Senate Chambers yesterday Mr. Morris said he was working towards legislation which would cover the whole issue of education and access to public areas for the disabled. ?Legislation to support the national policy for the disabled ? which was discussed in Jamaica five years ago ? was critical to this,? he said.

He said a lot of research was being done on the causes of blindness in Jamaica and one of the main reasons, including the reason he lost his sight, is glaucoma. Mr. Morris said research was also being done on the use of cannabis in treating glaucoma.

While attending high school, Mr. Morris developed glaucoma in 1984 and five years later was totally blind at the age of 20.

However, he said, this did not stop him from pursuing his dreams and he attended the University of the West Indies where he did a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Mass Communication and a Master of Philosophy Degree in Government.