Celebrating 60 years of Gibraltar Disability Society

The 60th anniversary of the Gibraltar Disability Society will be marked lighting Moorish Castle red and white this week.

ORIGINS OF THE GIBRALTAR DISABILITY SOCIETY

The grass roots of the Gibraltar Disability Society began in 1966 when a small group of parents came together to seek inclusion and support for their children with disabilities. Today it may seem difficult to believe that only sixty years ago there was nothing for children with disabilities. Gibraltar was a completely blank canvas in terms of disability services or financial aid. There were no specialist provisions, no financial assistance and no government funded disability equipment such as wheelchairs.

The Society was originally founded as the Association for the Parents of Handicapped Children and later evolved into The Society for Handicapped Children. As language and understanding progressed, these terms became extremely outdated, and in 2014 the charity officially became known as The Gibraltar Disability Society.

The original founder was Dr Ernest Imossi, a local pathologist and parent of a child with a disability. He was joined by many other dedicated individuals, predominantly parents, who became involved in the original Committees. Amongst them, and apologies if we unintentionally omit anyone, were Julio Pons, Reggie Valarino, Eric Posso, Mr Goldwin, Augustin Poggio, Esteban Robba, Eric Ellul, Wilfred Lavagna, Louis Andlaw and Elio Victor.

In its early years, the Youth Service played a pivotal role in supporting the Society. Montague Bastion was, to all intents and purposes, the Society’s original headquarters. Help was provided in the form of wheelchairs and equipment which, in those days, had to be purchased by the families. In fact, two wheelchairs were the first pieces of equipment bought by the Society. The Society also established a repair workshop, with the late Mr George Costa, a UK resident, providing invaluable help in sourcing spare parts.

The original objectives of the Society were clearly defined:

“Generally, to promote the welfare of all handicapped children in Gibraltar, regardless of whether their parents were member of the Association or not. Specifically, to work towards improving the facilities available at present in Gibraltar for the treatment, education and general care of handicapped children.”

This ethos has remained central to the Society’s mission for the past 60 years. Originally, a subscription of 5 shillings was charged for membership, although now there is no charge for members. Whilst researching the history of the Society it was amusing to find in the original rules that “any or all of the committee may be Ladies!” It seems that progress has been made in more than the area of disability!

Over the decades there have been many others who have given their time and experience, free of charge, to serve on the Society’s Committee. Mr Sean Sullivan, Ms Annael Felipes, Mrs Toni Beiso, Mr Wayne Tunbridge, Ms Betty Featherstone, Mrs Trudi Wink, Mr Mathew Turnock, Dr Don Bacaresse Hamilton, and Mrs Olga and Mr Augustine Poggio. Again, apologies for anyone we have unintentionally omitted.

Many of us remember with great admiration Mrs Agnes Valarino who joined the Committee in 1988 as Chairperson. This was a particularly significant chapter in the history of the Society. Agnes was a tireless campaigner who was deeply respected, transforming the Society from a Charitable organisation into an advocacy group that worked tirelessly to actively challenge governments to improve services and policy for the benefit of all those persons with disability resident in Gibraltar. Many of the current committee worked alongside Agnes, including Gina Llanelo, Nicole Byrne, Debbie Borastero, Mandy Spencer and the late, very much missed Angela Mascarenhas.

Gibraltar’s first disability conference “Changing Concepts” was organised by Agnes and the Committee of the time in 1999. The two-day conference, featuring over twenty international speakers, focused on inclusion in mainstream education and was one of the largest and most successful events of its time.

Agnes sadly passed away in 2005 shortly after having received the Governor’s Award for her charitable work. In 2017 the Disability Act was finally passes through Parliament. This was important legislation that Agnes had worked tirelessly on for many years. In recognition of her contribution, it was announced in Parliament by then Minister Samantha Sacramento that this Act will be known as “Agnes’s Law”.

The Disability Society has always comprised of a committee of unpaid volunteers, who continue to advocate for equality and inclusion, while fundraising to provide therapist recommended equipment that is not funded by any other source. It remains the only disability related charity that funds such equipment for individuals, both children and adults. Due to the sensitive nature of this support, it is never publicised in any form of media. We firmly believe that confidentiality for those individuals we help is paramount.

The Society has long welcomed the fact that Government now funds much of the life changing equipment recommended and subsequently provided by therapists. However, there is still a gap where not all equipment is funded by government. For example, items such as rain covers for wheelchairs or specialist buggies are not included in such funding. Duplicate equipment needed for both school and home are often not covered and in these cases the Society can step in. Of course, there are some occasions where we can publicise our work, such as donation of equipment to schools, therapist departments and St Bernadettes Resource Centre.

Other achievements include advocacy for medical and social support improvements such as government funded provision of imperative equipment, the GHA file flagging system, house modifications for those living in Government housing.

The Society has achieved many great improvements over the past 60 years, all supported by its member’s. The original St Martin’s school was first opened in September 1976. The need for a school was driven by parents of children with special needs who were excluded from education. Their fundraising efforts led to the government matching the amount raised by the parents to fund the construction of St Martin’s school. The original school was replaced by a new modern facility inaugurated in September 2021. The Society also played a key role in securing the introduction of compulsory education by the state for children with disabilities; this included inclusive education in mainstream schools. Today most mainstream schools have learning support facilities and assistants.

The Society was instrumental in the development of the Dr Giraldi home which was opened in 1994; later advocating for its remodelling, due to the increase of service users; professional management and the introduction of policy and procedure. Again, due to the increase in the number of service users the Society was the major influencer in the introduction of supporting living flats in the Community. Agnes Valarino was personally recognised for this achievement by then Chief Minister Peter Caruana.

Together with the Dr Giraldi home was the opening of St Bernadettes Resource Centre. This Centre was run like a school for many years with the opening times
being based around the school curriculum. It was the Society, along with the then CEO of Social Service Mr Chris Wilson and later Mrs Carmen Maskill, that finally forced Government to accept that this was not a school but a Centre for adults. St Bernadettes is now open all year round and recognised as an adult resource centre. The Society has also funded over the years air conditioning for the Centre, the refurbishment of the therapy pool, which spent much time out of action, into an activity room. Most recently the Society succeeded in obtaining a grant of £36,000 for refurbishment of the outside area, new computers and equipment and several year-long therapy sessions including drama, music, art and wellbeing. The Society also successfully advocated for respite for families of adults with disabilities and more recently for families of children with disabilities

The Society has consistently championed Governments and Unions for fair employment for the staff that work within the Disability Services. The need for permanent contracts to replace as and when hours was foremost in that fight. Working with those with such varied disabilities can, at times, be very challenging and the need to retain staff who see their work as a vocation not just a job was paramount.

Other major achievements include the introduction of disability benefit, which later included of those with disabilities that were not from birth. More recently index-linking disability benefit to inflation so it would increase each year. The retention of partial disability benefit was also achieved for those who were in employment when Government debated whether to remove the benefit entirely. After all, having a disability can come with extra expenses to the cost of living. Another achievement was the income tax disability allowance for parents. However, the Society feels that this benefit should be addressed for those parents who are unable to work or who are retired. Import duty exemption for certain disability items was also crossed off our wish list!

Other successes for the Society over the past 60 years include:
• the introduction of the Blue Badge parking scheme, which the Society ran for a number of years. The Society also fought for an increase in the fines for illegal parking in disability parking bays which was a major issue. Fast tracking passes for those with sever issues that do not allow them to sit in extremely long frontier queues.
• The provision of transport for both St Martins School and St Bernadettes Resource Centre.
• Wheelchair accessible taxis and buses.
• The return of duty-free importation for vehicles with a disabled driver or for the family of a disabled person.
• The Summer Stay and Play scheme.
• The introduction in 2009 of the very first accessible beach, with an anonymous donation which allowed the Society to purchase the first accessibility equipment for Eastern Beach.
• In 2011 the Disability Society, along with some members from GHITA were involved in the introduction of BSL courses to Gibraltar.
• In 2022 the Society also donated £25,000 for the start-up of PossAbilities, an NGO which provides support services from a specifically adapted facility for those with supported needs. Our donation funded in full the refurbishment of two specialised rooms within the facility.

The Society is, and always has been, an apolitical organisation that works with the Government of the day. This has been proved by the many changes in governments the Society has seen over the past 60 years. Adhering to our values and principles we can proudly say that our successes’ in changing the system have been achieved with all political parties. We work closely with all Government departments including the Care Agency, GHA, Education, Justice and Equality.

The Society has sat on several Government Boards to advocate change with the aforementioned departments which now include the Supported Needs and Disability Office. We will continue be involved as long as we can to advocate for continuous and ever evolving change. The Disability Society relies on fundraising and donations to continue its work in providing therapist recommended equipment for individuals and the services for those with disabilities.

In 2018 The Disability Society was very proud to have been bestowed the Mayor’s Community Award. It was an honour to have the work the Society does recognised in such a way. Mrs Debbie Borastero took over as Chairperson from her predecessor Agnes Valarino in 2004 with the promise to stand for one year. Several years later Debbie’s continued charitable work was recognised by Queen Elizabeth II in the 2020 New Years Honours list. After being awarded the MBE Debbie thanked the Committee of the Gibraltar Disability Society, without whom none of this work would have been possible, their members and especially her children for their support. She said “It must never be forgotten that everyone deserves to be treated with respect, dignity and equality regardless of their disability.”

The current Committee; Mrs Debbie Borastero, Mrs Gina Llanelo, Mrs Nicole Byrne, Ms Mandy Spencer, Mrs Jane Tunbridge and Mrs Gail Carreras extend heartfelt thanks to all those who came before us. Without them we would not be where we are today. Particular thanks to Mr Maurice Valarino whose help and support over the years has been indispensable. Whilst much has been achieved challenges still remain and, with the great increase in the number of those with disabilities in Gibraltar, the Society will need to continue to press for increased services and more inclusive support. Above all we thank our members, their families, donors and all those that support us in our endeavour to continue the work that we do. Without you none of this would be possible.