I did the right thing, says Warner

President of the Association for Persons with Disabilities, Bernard Warner, said that there is no question in his mind that he did the right thing when he took the law into his own hands in an effort to bring awareness to the plight of disabled motorists.
“Yes, I did the right thing. My method may not be the one that everybody likes, but I did the right thing because I was standing up for disabled persons. We came under a lot of criticism from the media, the radio, social media but that didn’t deter me, it just pushed me further to confirm the fact that what I was doing was right,” Warner explained.
Warner and his association received public backlash when videos and pictures emerged on social media showing him parked behind a motorist who was parked in a disabled parking spot. The same thing happened a few weeks after when pictures surfaced again displaying Bernard and several members of his association sitting in wheelchairs in regular parking spots at the Woods Shopping Centre.
According to Warner, the Attorney General (AG), Steadroy ‘Cutie’ Benjamin, assured him that the police have the authority to charge able-bodied individuals who utilise disability parking spaces up to $500 whether they are on private property or not. He said that the AG’s pronouncements prove that he was correct and his many critics that had so much to say about what he was doing, were in fact wrong.
He said that his protests were simply the springboard for the issues affecting disabled individuals to get the consideration they deserve from the general public. He pointed out that within society, there are people who may have good jobs and positions that they want to protect and are therefore afraid to speak out on certain issues, but he said that he is not one of those people.
Warner admitted that the government can do better in addressing the many concerns of the disabled community. He said that through steady lobbying, he believes that more will be done.
He highlighted the claim that there are some within the disabled community who criticise him heavily and often, but he does not discriminate against these individuals because he knows that the criticism is all a part of the job that he is doing.
He revealed that the proposed amendments discussed with the AG include giving the police more ability to carry out their duties with regards to protecting disabled motorists.