From excellence to exclusion: A blind teacher’s plight

Despite having over a decade of teaching experience and numerous commendations and awards to his name, Coswell Barnett has been unable to secure a full-time position for the past four years. And he believes it is because he is blind.

With just 25 years before he faces retirement, the 40-year-old is fearful that time to make something of himself and secure his nest egg is running out, drained by what he is convinced is a never-ending battle of discrimination, even in the face of Jamaica’s Disabilities Act and public utterances by lawmakers.

Barnett has been blind since he was three years old, having been born with glaucoma.

Despite his disability, his mother, Hazelyn Small, said she did everything to ensure that her child kept up with his studies.

Eventually, he matriculated into Calabar High School, where he excelled, and later, he graduated from Shortwood Teachers’ College.

It was through a newspaper advertisement that he first found employment at Clan Carthy High School in Kingston in 2006.

But Barnett said things took a turn for the worse during the final year of his part-time efforts in liberal studies at The University of the West Indies (UWI), when there was a series of unsuccessful attempts to resolve scheduling clashes between his classes and his job. He was forced to give up the job at Clan Carthy in pursuit of his studies in 2019.

After he graduated, Clan Carthy had discontinued its Spanish programme, and thus, he could not return.

Now, four years later, despite his experience and qualifications, Barnett said he has been repeatedly turned down after sending out more than 20 job applications and attending several interviews.

“I have never had a full-time job since,” Barnett told The Sunday Gleaner, adding that he has only been able to secure two part-time stints teaching Spanish – both for only a few months and more than a year apart.

None of the schools to which he has applied for employment has given him a sound reason as to why he was not fit for hire, he charged. And despite seeking assistance from various representatives at the Ministry of Education, nothing has come from his pleas.

“I feel deflated, having completed my degree for close to four years now and not being able to get a full-time job. And it is not because there is an unavailability of jobs; it is squarely because of the level of discrimination that is being meted out to people like me as a disabled and, in particular, a blind person,” argued Coswell, brandishing a slew of certificates and awards outlining his successes as a teacher at Clan Carthy and as a university student.

“Because of the level of disregard still being shown to members of the disabled community, it is my humble opinion that the Disabilities Act is not benefiting us in the way it should. We are still left at the mercy of the employers, be it public or private, [but] especially in the public [sector],” he charged.

“That is why I am in the position that I am in,” he continued, relaying several instances where he was called for interviews and even impressed the panels with his proficiency in Spanish. In the end, however, the interactions have always culminated in him not being selected.

With a worldwide teacher shortage, Jamaica has, in recent decades, been one of the countries from which there has been heavy attrition, to the point where the Government has announced plans to bring in teachers from Ghana and India.

This is much to the chagrin of stakeholders such as the Jamaica Teachers’ Association and the Jamaica Association of Principals of Secondary Schools, who have urged the Government to explore other options, such as re-evaluating the work conditions of teachers in the island.

According to the entities, those teachers who to remain in the island would consider such a move unfair, especially if better salaries and benefits are offered to the foreigners.

A study by the Caribbean Policy Research Institute revealed in 2021 that persons with disabilities (PWD) continue to rank among the Jamaicans hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, primarily as a large number of them are located outside of the Corporate Area, where the bulk of the outreach services are centred.

Barnett and his mother live together in Temple Hall in rural St Andrew. She sells agricultural produce and other wares to pay their bills and buy food and medication, which, for her, include three different eye drops daily.

They survived the past four years only by the grace of God, she told The Sunday Gleaner.

“I really want him to get something. It has been a long road for him, and it really hurts me to see him like this. Every day I pray. It has been a struggle for both of us,” bemoaned a pained Small, who accompanies her son everywhere, spending thousands in transportation fees to attend job interviews that ultimately refuse him.

“It is really hard to see that he has done so well for himself in his education, but now he cannot get a decent opportunity to use it. That is really hard and we are only getting older,” she added.

Barnett said the only resources he would need to carry out his duties as a teacher are a “homeroom” – where instead of him going to the students’ classes, they would come to him – and a few technological applications, which he said are easily accessible online.

In the last two weeks, there have been dozens of teaching jobs advertised in The Sunday Gleaner and at least 10 of them – some of which Barnett has applied for – have been invitations for Spanish teachers.

Frustrated, yet undaunted, Barnett continues to push, noting that he is open and qualified to teach other subjects, or to be employed at establishments where his proficiency in Spanish and his specialisation in culture and history – as per his liberal studies degree – may be useful.

Christine Hendricks, executive director of the Jamaica Council for Persons with Disabilities, said that since the roll-out of the Disabilities Act, the council has investigated close to 50 cases of disabled persons who have felt they have faced discrimination while job-hunting.

“In the last year, we had about 30 cases. Investigations have taken place, matters have been referred to the tribunal, and hearings are taking place. Some have been settled,” said Hendricks, urging Barnett to report his situation to the council.

Even with the relatively new law, Hendricks admitted that the cultural shift from discriminating against persons with disabilities has been slow.

“I think there has been a change, for the fact that we have been contacted by more agencies who either help them with their retrofitting or guide them to ensure they have access. There have also been companies who are seeking persons with disabilities to employ,” she noted, adding that some job fairs put on for the disabled have been underattended. “So I’m not certain if it is that they are hesitant to come out or they already believe that they will be discriminated against and so they don’t show up.”

Leighton Johnson, the immediate past president of the JTA, said that while the association represents all teachers, including those who are disabled, he could not say how many disabled educators are in the public system “as they are all regular members, and we treat them as regular members”.

“It (the number) is some information that we perhaps need, but because we do not have any distinction in our members, I don’t think it is something that we have contemplated before,” he told The Sunday Gleaner, promising, like Hendricks, to investigate Barnett’s case in an effort to remedy his situation.

“We are on a sound footing to advocate for our members who are aptly qualified and would find themselves in a position where they are discriminated against and are not able to gain employment,” affirmed Johnson, adding that technology has afforded much assistance to the disabled community in recent years.

Stewart Jacobs, president of the National Parent-Teacher Association of Jamaica, said students may benefit from having disabled teachers in their classrooms.

“There is no concern with having a person who is disabled or has physical challenges to teach our children. Those who are physically challenged still have the mental ability and the capacity to impart the knowledge,” he said. “I think it will also help to assist the development of our children in that they learn to accept humans in all forms ... . It is for those who are sound and have all the faculties to use that as a motivator; so it is encouraged.”

Last Friday, Tavia Britton, one of Barnett’s past students at Clan Carthy, reflected on how awe-inspiring it was to have him as a teacher, to watch him speak fluently in class, and pick up on troublemakers like herself from a simple whisper.

“It was amazing how he would sit and [set] our exams, even though he could not see. And once he got used to the buildings, he walked around the school unassisted,” she reminisced.

corey.robinson@gleanerjm.com