 Good day invited guests, zyker personnel, media personnel, sponsors and all who took time to view this ceremony. I am Mrs. Keshana Ernest and I will be your chairperson for this ceremony. I have worked with persons with disabilities for 16 years and I serve as the public relation officer on the Sports and Events Committee. Today, we are here to introduce national movement endorsed by the Special Education Department. Together we can. This campaign aims to beautify our community so seeds of understanding, accepting the unique gift of others and everyone grows. Ladies and gentlemen, I am pleased to introduce one of our team members, Mrs. Deborah Pamfield McLean. Mrs. McLean has worked in the field of persons with disabilities sorry for the past 20 years and she continues to advocate through her work in the St. Lucia Blind Welfare Association. In the year 2018, Ms. McLean received a scholarship from the Japanese government through the Japan International Corporation Agency, Zyker, to participate in a work study program in Japan. The course entitled Social Participation and Livelihood of Persons with Disabilities focused on many aspects of social participation, including actions regarding progressive legislation and statutes for inclusion of PWD, Persons with Disabilities, measures towards the formation of an inclusive society and employment for persons with disabilities to improve their livelihood. I now present you Mrs. Deborah Pamfield McLean. I feel advantage to brief you this morning. This is opportune as the month of May is celebrated in St. Lucia and the English-speaking Caribbean as Blindness Awareness Month. This time provides an opportunity for the general public to focus on issues of blindness and vision impairment while highlighting issues faced by persons with other disabilities. Let me ask you a question. What comes to your mind when you think or you hear the word disability? Does it mean a person who cannot function? A person who's useless? The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities exposes. Disability is an evolving concept. Though convention further goes on to say or define disabilities as, persons with disabilities include those who have long-term physical, mental, intellectual, and sensory impairments, which an interaction with various barriers may hinder their full and effective participation in society on an equal basis with others. For your information, these barriers could be environmental, legislative, behavior, social. Ladies and gentlemen, any one of us here are just seconds away from some form of disability. And when that time comes, how would you like to be treated? For most persons with disability, inclusion and accessibility are the biggest issues. If you think about it, you may want to agree with a PhD student, Kim. She did her PhD in disability studies. She wrote, from an accessibility standpoint, I say, let's embrace laziness because the second you make something for those lazy people, you are making something accessible. And for our persons, that is a plus because you are making it accessible for our persons with disabilities. Ladies and gentlemen, together we can create a barrier-free environment for our persons with disabilities. Together we can ensure the right to equal and inclusive services. Together we can ensure the right to livelihood. Together we can ensure the right to live in a safe and secure environment. Together we can foster social participation of persons with disabilities. Today, we are all called to action. Thank you. Thank you, Mrs. McLean. It is with great pleasure, I introduce to you Ms. Vinesa Hermann, a teacher of the Donata School and Vocational Center. Ms. Hermann attended a workshop in Japan last year entitled, Improving Social Participations for Persons with Disabilities through Sports. A Japan International Cooperation Agency, JICA, sponsored program. The program focuses on several components including adaptive sports, national awareness for persons with disabilities and improving inclusion for persons with disabilities through sports. I now present to you Ms. Vinesa Hermann. Good morning, everyone. Thanks for being here. As we know in our country, there is a need to develop appropriate opportunities for persons with disabilities throughout their life course. Currently, St. Lucia lacked the provision of access for people with disabilities to quality physical activity and opportunities as their non-disabled pairs. Enough emphasis is not placed on persons with disabilities and sports. Sports can provide numerous benefits to us including building confidence, many health benefits, leadership development, and improved socialization. On this day, March 10, 2019, my team and I, along with the associate organizations, are here to start change. It was Nelson Mandela who once said that education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world. I most certainly agree. Together we can make a change. Together we can start something new. Together we can erase the stigma. Together we can win. We are all here today to introduce Together We Can. Together We Can is an awareness campaign geared at young leaders, prefects, student council members, pair helpers, and advocacy groups in our school. The aim is to decrease the stigma on persons with disabilities. This can be achieved through but not limited to acceptance of others, establish a clear understanding of a disability, the importance of sports for persons with disabilities, improve social participation for persons with disabilities. This campaign came about during my course in Japan. Awareness for persons with disabilities is not only an island issue but a worldwide issue. Upon this finding, I decided to use my knowledge during the course to not only benefit myself but my country. My experience in sports made it even more interesting to bring awareness of the benefits of sports for persons with disabilities. Watching persons with disabilities win a race, taking part in sporting activities surrounded by persons who influence in a positive way is inspiring. The joy of someone smiling and feeling accepted in society. That is how much sports can benefit persons with disabilities. During this campaign, students will not only be able to gain knowledge but get an opportunity to visit our organization and interact with the students. We are actually a bit excited because we are all here. We all have worked in this field for some time and bringing forth this campaign can make a huge difference in our society. I thank you. Thank you very much, Ms. Vinesa Hoeman and Mrs. McLean. Our team has the confidence that providing others with such knowledge may be able to effect change, both long term and short term. We look forward to a successful campaign. Together we can make a change. Anyone who wishes to contact or be part of this campaign can call 727-3099 or 4527-881. On behalf of the team, I would like to take this opportunity to thank you all for attending this brief launch and do hope that together we can erase the stigma on persons with disabilities. I would like to thank the staff of the GIS and NCN for accommodating us and allowing us the use of this studio. I thank you.