Special Envoy comments on PM Briceno’s remarks about ADHD

Special Envoy, Rossana Briceno, an advocate for persons with disabilities has commented on remarks made by her husband, Prime Minister John Briceno.  The comments had to do with the term ADHD that he spewed at the Leader of the Opposition, Shyne Barrow.

Rossana Briceño, Special Envoy for the Development of Families and Children: “My husband is I don’t know what to say sometimes about my husband. I love him a lot but when he said that comment about the Leader of the Opposition having ADD in his, the way my husband perceives things he did not mean it in any derogatory way. What I understood of that comment it was that the Leader of the Opposition was just seeking attention, he’s lacking attention so using that term was not appropriate and I think he did admit and say that maybe he shouldn’t have used that term because yes it can be very insensitive. Now with the Leader of the Opposition seeking attention well that’s another story.”

Special Envoy Briceno added that the time has come for the public and government officials to learn the proper terminologies when it comes to disabilities.

Rossana Briceño, Special Envoy for the Development of Families and Children: “I think they need to stop. They need to get educated because we have fixed terms that should be used. ADD is a term that means Attention Deficit Disorder and a lot of our children are affected by that and we say that they’re lazy and they’re not putting interest but it’s not that it’s that their brain cannot focus on one or two or three things at a time they have to focus on one thing at a time. So when we use these terms like the R word “Retarded” that’s a super negative connotation we don’t use those terms any more. We have intellectual disability that we call ID or developmental delays or different terms. So I think we can educate our country and I think that’s a good start for me. I could start sharing the appropriate terms on my page or wherever but I think it’s important and I think our community needs to stop using them just as a regular conversation “Oh he’s retarded.” or “He has ADD.” things like that. I think with education and sensitization we can stop that.”