The workshop forms part of the BRIDGE Project, which stands for Building Readiness through Inclusive Development, Growth and Empowerment an initiative that equips participants with practical life skills, emotional support and greater confidence to navigate everyday life.
Executive Director of the SLBWA, Anthony Avril, says the programme is especially important for people who lose their vision later in life.
“What this Saint Lucia Blind Welfare Association has been doing is trying to maximize every opportunity, every opportunity to sensitize the society, to continue with the inclusion agenda. But for us to do that successfully, the people who are affected must themselves be empowered. Must themselves feel that they have a right to be, not only to receive, but also to contribute.”
The year-long project is funded through the Local Engagement Action Fund, supported by the Government of Canada. Administration, Finance and Project Development Officer at the SLBWA, Deborah Pamphile-McLean, says the initiative goes far beyond teaching mobility skills.
“Expect to see a lot more initiatives where our clients are put to the fore, their skills are highlighted, their qualifications, everything is highlighted. And there, we are looking, as part of this project, for employers to come on board, to come and tell us what is available, to talk to us and tell us what we as an Association, need to do or to put in place, or how we could assist them so that they could accommodate some of our clients, persons living with blindness and vision impairment.”
Workshop facilitator and fundraiser Denise Godin says the programme begins with one simple but powerful question.
“Today we’re going to focus on, “Who am I?” Who am I as a person, and who am I considering my vision disability? How much has my vision disability affected who I am?”
Among the participants is fifteen-year-old Faith Brown, a student of Corinth Secondary School who was born with glaucoma. She admits that living with a visual impairment has not always been easy.
“Society sees it as like, they always like want to give you like information like, ‘Oh, if you eat less sugar, your eyes will get better.” And, “Oh, if you eat this, you’ll get better.” I’m like, do you have it to understand it? Like, if you have it, you wouldn’t be giving that information, you would be enjoying life. School, some students like to give a little nickname, and like sometimes I want to look at these students like, if you had it, you would not be talking.”
For Jonathan Jean, blindness meant walking away from the career he loved. After losing his sight two and a half years ago, the former chef battled anxiety and depression before turning to the Blind Welfare Association for help. Today, he has found a new purpose.
“You have Jonathan who is now a certified shiatsu practitioner. Of course, that also was in collaboration with the Saint Lucia Blind Welfare Association, whereby they offered this opportunity to me. I took it, I grabbed it, I ran with it, and I found another way to use my hands in another sense. My message to anyone out there living with blindness, about to live with blindness, experiencing the circumstances where they have questions about their vision, first things first, get checked, get diagnosed so that you can know where you stand and where you should go, where you should lean on.”
For participants, the workshop is more than a training programme, it is a reminder that blindness does not define ability. Instead, it offers something many thought they had lost forever: hope, confidence and the courage to embrace a new beginning.