Coordinator for Disabled Persons, Ann Lindroth, says Bermuda lags behind the world in providing disabled access.

Speaking as she introduced Shuaib Chalklen, the key speaker for Access Bermuda week, Ms Lindroth explained the focus was on educating people about the problem.

When asked how Bermuda compared with the rest of the world in catering for the disabled, she replied, ?terribly?.

She told : ?We?re way behind the times in access to buildings and transportation to move people with disabilities.?

Awareness was increasing and access could be accomplished more quickly if the disabled people were the one?s asking for it, said Ms Lindroth.

Highlighting Bermuda?s backward stance she said cruise passengers arrived on ships completely accessible for disabled persons and then in Bermuda are expecting equal access and are gravely disappointed at the restrictions.

She was very excited to have Mr. Chalklen, who is head of the Secretariat of the African Decade of Disabled Persons, here to speak.

She said: ?It?s the first time we?ve had a player on the world stage.

?We?re on the cusp of having a National Bermuda Disability Policy.?

Mr. Chalklen (pictured) said he would be talking generally about the UN convention on the rights of persons with disabilities and will be highlighting the importance of looking at the rights of minorities.

He explained he would be taking a human rights approach placing importance on people?s dignity.

Mr. Chalklen explained that South Africa has laws that state there has to be disabled access everywhere and mentioned that in its absence, ?people take the government to court and win.?

This is very different to Bermuda, which Ms Lindroth described as, ?way behind the times.?

He explained that after apartheid ended in South Africa in 1994 things started to change and a new constitution was written with a bill of rights to protect the vulnerable.

?The government has a good policy,? he said, ?with various pieces of legislation.?

The legislation he spoke of he actually wrote himself while working as Director of the Office on the Status of Disabled Persons and drafted the White Paper on the Integration National Disability Strategy (INDS).