7 News Belize

Society Shuns Special Needs Kids
posted (April 3, 2019)

Frequently on the news, we tell you about the good work that the faculty and staff at Stella Maris School do to educate special needs children living with disabilities. They prepare them for life as an adult, focusing on education, but also on preparing them live as comfortably as they possibly can with special needs in mainstream society.

But, the staff at Stella Maris says that the sad reality is after these children with disabilities graduate and move on to become young adults, the Belizean society fails them, turns their backs on them. They say that employers in the private sector rarely give these graduates an opportunity to become productive citizens. They are often forced to become beggars on the street.

A group of local entrepreneurs, as well as individuals engaged in outreach and second chance educational programs want to see more of these special needs graduates find a place in the community. So, they're exploring ways to work with the school. They called their first meeting today at Stella Maris to discuss possible options, and they invited the press. 7News stopped by, to find out what they plan to do to help children with disabilities who will become employable when they reach adulthood:

The plan is for Stella Maris to work with these interested organizations to enhance their educational programs, and to see if some of their graduates could be a good fit as employees of several of these companies. We'll keep following to see how these ideas develop into workable solutions for children living with disabilities.

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