As a visually impaired woman who has navigated the education system in Guyana and worked with disability organizations across the Caribbean, I have witnessed the common challenges students with disabilities face throughout our region.

From my dual perspective as someone with lived experience and as a guidance counselor, I would like to share insights on the barriers that exist in education and solutions that can work if implemented with and for students with disabilities.

Students attending school with disabilities throughout the Caribbean face several shared obstacles including:

• Widespread physical accessibility issues: Many school buildings were constructed long ago when there was no consideration for persons with disabilities in their design.
• Limited teacher preparation: Having trained teachers able to support the education of students with disabilities remains one of our greatest challenges.
  Across most Caribbean countries, teacher training programs provide minimal instruction on accommodating diverse learning needs, leaving educators without the tools to support students effectively in classrooms that often include students both with and without disabilities.
• School resource constraints especially in rural communities: The lack of assistive technologies, learning materials adapted for different student disabilities and assessment tools creates significant disadvantages for students with disabilities that keep them from participating fully in the classroom.

Cultural misconceptions and low expectations also often limit opportunities for students with disabilities before they can demonstrate their capabilities. This issue still affects me as an independent woman since it was ingrained throughout my childhood that an individual living with a disability doesn’t have much to offer.

What I lacked most during my school years was access to accessible learning materials.

Simple accommodations like large-print textbooks or digital versions compatible with screen readers would have made an enormous difference for my learning. Instead, I relied heavily on classmates reading aloud to me and family members transcribing content into formats I could access.

But one teacher in particular changed my educational trajectory. She noticed my struggles and took the initiative to seek help from the Guyana Council of Organizations for Persons with Disability for me.

However, this happened when I was about to finish secondary school. Still, this personal commitment from one educator showed me the difference that awareness and willingness to adapt can make.

The most challenging subject for me in school was mathematics where visual representations were critical but rarely accessible. I often felt excluded during geometry lessons where teachers would point to shapes on the chalkboard saying “this angle here” without verbal descriptions.

These experiences taught me that inclusion requires thoughtful communication, not just physical presence in a classroom.

Because of this experience, I opted to pursue my higher education and ultimately my career in social work since it involves less mathematical content.

Insights from today’s students

In my role as a guidance counselor and youth advocate for persons with disabilities at a secondary school, I hear remarkably similar concerns from students with disabilities today.

One high school student who is visually impaired recently told me, “Teachers forget I can’t see what they’re writing on the board. When I remind them, they apologize but often forget again the next day.”

Students with hearing impairments report feeling isolated during group discussions when multiple people speak simultaneously. A 16-year-old shared, “By the time I figure out who’s speaking and try to read their lips, the conversation has moved on and I’m left behind.”

What’s encouraging is that when appropriate accommodations are provided, the transformation of the learning experience is remarkable. One student who received a tablet with accessibility features improved tremendously in his academic performance and his confidence.

When technology is readily available and appropriate, it can be transformative for students with disabilities.

Effective regional solutions

Despite these challenges, several approaches have proven effective across different Caribbean contexts to support students with disabilities in schools:

• Practical teacher training focused on strategies that are simple to implement makes an immediate difference.
  In Jamaica, for example, the accessible digital textbooks initiative by the Ministry of Education and Youth and UNICEF equips educators with digital learning materials designed using universal design for learning principles, ensuring students of all abilities can access and engage with classroom content.
  Results from evaluating this initiative demonstrated that accessible digital textbooks can be useful for supporting teachers in their lessons for all students and the initiative is being implemented in multiple countries across the Caribbean and Latin America.
• Peer support systems create inclusive learning environments that encourage students to assist one another, benefiting all students.
  Structured peer collaboration within classrooms during lessons supports students with disabilities to access information while also feeling a sense of belonging and inclusion within their school community.
• Family-school partnerships: When schools actively engage families, as seen in Trinidad and Tobago’s Student Support Services Division (SSSD) programs, students with disabilities benefit from more consistent support at home and in school.
  Family involvement through regular home visits, joint planning and communication tools has helped create more inclusive and responsive classroom environments.

Moving forward together

A regional approach to supporting students with disabilities is especially relevant in the Caribbean where many countries share similar education challenges, resource constraints and cultural contexts.

Working together allows for shared expertise, pooled resources and scalable solutions that are more sustainable and impactful than fragmented, country-specific efforts.

To improve education for students with disabilities, we need:

1. Caribbean-wide teacher training standards for inclusive education
2. Greater regional investment in accessible infrastructure and assistive technologies
3. Implementation frameworks that move policies from paper to practice
4. Collaboration across countries to amplify successful approaches.

Following the Global Disability Summit, I hope these insights from our Caribbean context contribute to the important conversation about creating truly inclusive education systems worldwide.