Barbados use Braille in exams!

A teenager who became the first visually impaired student to sit the "screening test" in Braille has been presented with BDS$23,000 in Braille equipment.

Janeil Odle, passed for Combermere School. She was presented with the equipment by the minister of education Anthony Wood who encouraged her to show her classmates that "a disability does not mean lack of ability".

"We hope that through your efforts and your achievement, other physically disabled students will be motivated in school", he said to the teenager who is aspiring to be a criminal lawyer.

The equipment was provided by the Barbados Children's Trust.

Director of the trust, Michael Pemberton, explained that the equipment to help visually impaired persons included the Open-book Programme, which allows the blind person to scan printed documents as well as a Personal Digital Assistant.

Combermere School principal, Vere Parris, said training and orientation for staff has been provided on how to deal with persons with disabilities.

"We have provided the necessary training and orientation for staff... a seminar was conducted discussing communication, socio-emotional and environmental aspects and physical needs, so that her life at Combermere will be a happy one," he stated.

Janeil is a former student of Irving Wilson and Wilkie Cumberbatch schools.

Combermere has produced a number of successful students who were disabled. Among them the late Kregg Nurse who suffered with multiple sclerosis and who went on to successfully do his first degree and KerryAnn Ifill who was the first blind student to be admitted to the school and who has since completed a first degree and recently graduated with an MBA in business.