(Jamaica Gleaner) Behind the visible destruction left by Hurricane Melissa lies another unfolding tragedy for Jamaica’s disabled, as residents in the hardest-hit areas struggle with limited medical care and basic accessibility, turning their search for refuge into yet another fight for survival.
Inside a makeshift shelter at Petersfield High School in Westmoreland, the air was heavy with unspoken fears and quiet terror for five of its most vulnerable occupants, displaced by the Category 5 hurricane that tore through Jamaica’s western parishes on October 28.
Two of the residents are visually impaired, one lives with Parkinson’s disease, one child is autistic, another uses a feeding tube, and one man has an intellectual disability.
At the entrance of a darkened classroom, Chevron Campbell sat alone, his hands shaking involuntarily from Parkinson’s disease. He said his condition developed after a stroke two years ago. Up to that point, he worked as a courtesy officer for a security company in the resort town of Montego Bay, St James.
His home in Galloway district was destroyed b
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