Disabled woman denied bathroom access

André Williams, STAR Writer

Relatives of a disabled senior are still fuming following an incident, ironically on International Women's Day, where she was denied access to a bathroom facility at Hellshire Beach, St Catherine.

THE STAR understands that the 86-year-old woman, who is visually impaired, had to be assisted by an onlooker who felt compelled to intervene and allowed her access to their bathroom to relieve herself.

A relative of the disabled woman told THE STAR, "as a nation, we have to take care of our young and old, that is how others judge us as a society. In our day-to-day life, we should be humane companies that have policies, but people only use the bathroom whenever they have to."

Our news team was told that the incident occurred when the family sought to use the bathroom facilities at Prendy's On The Beach restaurant. They had dined at a neighbouring restaurant and that may have caused some contention.

"Quite a lot of money was being spent there and it wasn't being spent at their place, but we offered to pay," said the relative, when our news team asked what triggered the stand-off.

The relative added that while the operators of the restaurant had a right to refuse access to the bathroom, she felt their action was inhumane, since the individual at the centre of the issue is old and was evidently blind, as she had to be led by two persons.

THE STAR was told that before the incident, the group had been dining at the neighbouring restaurant, but went and purchased soup at Prendys' because none was available where they were dining.

The relative said; "Even when we offered to buy something more or pay whatever it cost, we were told no. My God, this is an old woman. the gentleman got irate and insisted that she would not use their facility, a lady came and condoned same."

THE STAR contacted the operators at Prendy's who confirmed the incident and sought to shed some light on the issue.

Donnette Prendergast, manager, told our news team, "I heard an uproar and went to see what was happening, they didn't purchase anything, they were sent from next door. I didn't know that it was a senior citizen. We have a bathroom policy, however, at times we allow persons to use our facility. I'm a woman of God."

Prendergast continued, "When I went out there, everyone turned on me. They were talking 'bout gunshot this and that. The woman had left and I was told that she had gone to use the bathroom elsewhere. When it comes to compassion and love, I am not short on that."

THE STAR was told that the issue had existed because a number of the restaurants are not catering to their customers by providing bathroom facilities.

"You can't expect people to eat and then you say to them go over to Prendy's. Persons need to uplift their facility to please their customers, $740,000 went into building our bathroom."