Additionally, people expressed their frustrations and they felt that they had no one to take their complaints to. It was noted that the organizations for persons with disabilities at the time were stagnant. The meeting was called by Mrs. Cheryl Adams and Mr.Esroy Bute.
At that time Mrs. Adams was a visually impaired teacher at the School for Children with Special Needs in Georgetown, and she felt that the meeting was timely due to the discriminative remarks and treatment that she was experiencing at her workplace during that time.

How did the organization get its name, one may ask? Twice while sitting at home Mrs. Adams said, “I heard a voice saying why not advocate on behalf of persons with disabilities?” Mrs. Adams said that “she could remember the area in her home where she was when she heard the voice”. And one day in her classroom she heard “Voice of The Disabled” so the organization received its name. In July of 2017, the organization was officially registered as Voice of The Disabled Inc and was officially launched on August 26th, 2017, at the Colonarie Resource Center.

Saturday, August 26th at 2:00p.m was a joyful day for us as the launch was supported and well attended by members, families, invited guests and people in the communities. The guest speaker was Pastor Ian Williams from Chateaubelair SDA Church, and he used the story of Moses to demonstrate the fact that God calls anyone He chooses. After the launching of this well-needed organization, Voice of The Disabled journey began.

An incident occurred where Mrs. Adams received a report where a young mother had been restraining her son who has a disability using a rope to tie him in the home. Mrs. Adams visited the young mother who expressed her frustration of being ignorant of how to cope with the situation. Following the dialogue, Mrs. Adams advised the mother to send the child to the School for Children with Special Needs and further gave her some useful tips to help cope with the child’s behavior and to keep him at home. That child is now a student at the School for Children with Special Needs, and he has settled down nicely. Mrs. Adams has continued receiving calls of a similar nature and she has been advising and guiding parents accordingly.

The Establishment of VOD’s Office

The office for the Voice of the Disabled was registered at Mrs. Adams’ address at Chester Cottage; however, meetings were held every second Saturday in every month at the Colonaire Resource Center. One month when the call was made to the Adult Education Office in Kingstown to book for a regular meeting, the organization was regrettably informed that the center would no longer be available for meetings as it needed repairing. The struggles began as there was nowhere for the meetings to be held. Mrs. Adams approached Mrs. Gail Andrews, who had owned Gail’s Pre-School on the Colonaire Long Stretch, who granted permission for the meetings to be held at the school. However, since the students at the school were preschoolers and members of VOD were adults, the chairs were falling apart and so, members of the organization could not be accommodated any longer and another meeting place had to be soughted.

In November 2018 the Bible verse of 1 Corinthians 2:9 as it is written: “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no heart has imagined what God has prepared for those who love Him,” had been ringing in Mrs. Adams’ spirit and she said that she just could not cipher what it meant. In November of 2018 VOD found its home. Mrs. Adams received a phone call from Mrs. Gail Andrews who asked her to get in touch with Mrs. Bruce. Mrs. Bruce is the widow of the late Dr. Egbert Bruce who was the pastor of the New Testament Church in Georgetown and the Dean of the Urban Divinity Bible College in San Souci.

The Urban Divinity Bible College was housed in the old community center at San Souci. When Mrs. Adams contacted Mrs. Bruce; Mrs. Bruce said, “I have learned about Voice of the Disabled and your need for a meeting place”. Mrs. Bruce further went on to say, “I no longer have any interest in the building at San Souci as I am not well, and I will be returning to England, and I would not be able to continue with the Bible College.” She emphasized her vision of seeing the building transformed into that of the office of Voice of the Disabled. Mrs. Bruce had planned for the furniture to be donated to Voice of the Disabled, however, her son, Doyte demanded that the furnitures be paid for.

On paying for the tables and chairs the key to the building was delivered to Mrs. Adams by Doyte. The building was in a dilapidated condition and wasting no time, Mrs. Adams reached out to BRAGSA by sending a letter to the acting CEO Mr. Colin Francis, requesting their assistance in having the building repaired. Mr. Francis responded promptly and sent Ms. Latoya Thomas to assess the building. Following her report, Mr. Colin Francis and Ms. Thomas paid another visit to the building for further assessment. Mr. Llewellyn, who is the engineer at BRAGSA visited the building and performed an assessment and on his findings concluded that the building was fit to use. BRAGSA began working on the building in 2019.

The scope of works done by BRAGSA included: partitions for an office, training room, the changing of galvanize on the roof, changing doors, adding counters with tiles, and an unfinished pantry and cupboards, and the painting of the building. However, the repairing of the building was incomplete, and Mrs. Adams sought additional assistance through the Ministry of Housing for galvanize as the roof continued to leak. Galvanize and other materials were received through this Ministry.
There was a request for assistance made to the New Grounds SDA Church to have the galvanize replaced on the roof, and they assisted.
In January of 2020, the roof was completed through the kind contributions of BRAGSA, family members and Kingstown Lions Club.

With God’s blessings VOD continues to strive for excellence. With the assistance of Mr Allan Williams VOD submitted a proposal project entitled “Bringing Hope to Persons with Disabilities in Rural SVG” to the Australian direct aid program. We were delighted to learn that our project was accepted. We were given a grant of $63,000 for renovation of the building. We launched our building project on May 27th, 2021 and commenced work on June 21st 2021. Ten (10) windows were replaced, and the floor of the building was tilted. The kitchen cupboards and bathrooms are now completed, and burglar bars were installed. The Project has also been assisted through the kind contributions of another regional organization, private business owners, financial institutions, and churches throughout SVG.

VOD’s Achievements

In 2018, 2019 and 2023 we held our White Cane March in Kingstown. The gap from 2019-2022 is in the occurrence of the pandemic and our volcanic eruption. We also had a membership drive to Sandy Bay which was sponsored by the Telecommunications company, Flow. We have partnered with the International Council for the Education of People with Visual Impairment (ICVI), North America and Caribbean region through the Ministry of Education and Mobilization, to conduct training workshops for teachers and parents. Fundraising included the sales of donated clothing from Trinidad, along with green bottled seasoning and coconut oil. Several meetings were held with government ministries to establish partnership and working relationships as one of VOD’s goals is to advocate on behalf of persons living with disabilities.

The Executive members of VOD and Mr. Charles Massop, Regional President of the World Blind Union visited and met with Mr. Standley Richard, now deceased, who was the President of National Society of and for the Blind at that time, we also met with the Ministry of Education and Mobilization . Out of this meeting the National Society of and for the Blind is now a member of the World Blind Union.
VOD also established partnership with the Ministry of Health and through this Ministry several training workshops for parents were held by officials from the Ministry of Health. Food baskets are given yearly to members through the kind contribution of friends, families, SVG Nutrition Unit, SVG Agricultural Input Warehouse and other business places. Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, we were able to distribute vouchers through the Gender Affairs Unit.

In the wake of the explosion of the La Soufriere volcano, VOD received various donations from many groups including:

• Food items through “Vincies in Strat” – a group in Montserrat
• Vouchers from Action Bequia
• Snacks and Waters from the SVG Rotary Club
• Food items, snacks, and juices from the SVG-UK Friendship Trust
• A standing freezer, 6 burner gas stove and a Roku smart television from SVG – UK Friendly Trust
• An Electric Kettle and radio through the kind compliments of Ms Elizabeth Browne
• Assistance from NEMO through Mobilization

On March 3rd 2021, VOD’s office was opened for business with three (3) volunteers from the Youth Empowerment Services Program. The organization consists of sixty (60) members. Persons who are not disabled can also become a member of VOD.

Voice of the Disabled center had its official opening on May, 25th 2023. We had official representatives from the Government of SVG, Hon. Minister Curtis King from the Ministry of Education and Ms. Denise Harhol and her team from Ministry Mobilization that represents persons with disabilities. Our featured speaker was Dr. Joan-Bob Ward from Trinidad the president and founder of Hope and Action Network. There were many other invited guests from schools and churches and members throughout the communities.

Weekly programmes are now being held at the center for members of the organization. These programmes are; CCSLC Math and English, Information Technology, Braille and Craft classes. VOD now has an outreach program where Mrs. Adams and her team visit schools in the communities to educate teachers and students of our organization and how they can communicate and treat persons living with disabilities in their community. We also visit members of the organization throughout the communities and we will often take care packages to them. As any other organization, VOD continues to face many challenges such as transportation to transport members to and from the center. We also have a challenge where the mechanic workshop next to us is an issue. We also experience difficulty in finding volunteers. That aspect of community spirit seems to be dying. Persons with disabilities need the community.

Voice of the Disabled continues to achieve their goals, aspirations, and purpose with the assistance and supporters throughout St Vincent and the Grenadines, regionally and internationally. Mrs Adams believes that this organization was formed and called by God and that her faith and trust in God will allow the way for the goals of the organization to come to fruition.

In the year of 2024 VOD held two graduations, the first was a sign language class graduation ceremony which was supported through the French Embassy in St. Lucia through a project that we submitted under the name; Improving Access to Social Services for Persons with Disabilities in St. Vincent. This class consisted of teachers, police officers, social and health care workers and staff of Voice of the Disabled, the class was tutored by Dr. Joan Bobb-Ward from Trinidad and Tobago.

The other graduation was a braille and I.T class for the visually impaired members which was taught by Mrs. Cheryl Adams the President and Founder of Voice of the disabled. This class was supported through St. Vincent and the Grenadines Conservation Fund (SVGCF) under the Inter American Fund (IAF).

The organization is runned by an executive board.

The executive members are:

Mrs Cheryl Adams – President
Mr Daniel Chambers- Vice President
Miss Yoland Grant- Public Relations Officer
Mrs Gail Andrews- Assistant Public Relations Officer
Miss Shamarsh Adams- Secretary
Miss Lisa Jacobs- Assistant Secretary
Miss Vanie Samuel- Treasurer
Miss Louse Francois- Assistant Treasurer
Three (3) Committee Members.