Reporter, St. Jones, Antigua
With the kind assistance of good people 268YouTube Channel subscribers of Joshuanet Francis – designed to document her trip after being diagnosed with osteoarthritis at only 24 – they did not see the tears.
They were neither secrets of the days when she handled the most struck personal struggles, behind the closed doors.
After being told that he could lose the ability to walk until the age of 40, Joshuanet was determined to embrace life, walk on every natural path in his native Antigua, and visit each of the Caribbean island on 365 beaches while still could.
Constantly optimistic and smiling in her videos and public, her private tears intensified as she lost her work as a restaurant leader – because of her condition, she says – followed by her mortgage and her dream of building her own home.
Six years on, the young mother of the young mother is the one he uses to fight her public battle: supporting the rights of others who live with disability in a country where inequality is achieved and decisive resources are in shortages.
It directs its energy into a pioneer non-profit purpose, which it founded in 2023, good people 268, which strives for a brighter future for people with physical challenges.
“Arthritis has changed my life so much. I can only imagine what should be for someone with a great disability,” Joshuanet tells the BBC.
Osteoarthritis, a degenerative joint disease, which causes pain and stiffness, usually affects the elderly, but can hit any age.
“I couldn't believe it when they were diagnosed with me. My biggest fear was, what happens to life now?” Says Joshuaneta.
The great work of good people varies from the insistence on the creation of a tribunal for equal rights to a presidency of alleged discriminatory practices, to a recycling program, which in turn hires locals with disabilities.
The latter has already been implemented in more than 80 local schools, diverting about a million bottles and canned food from the national landfill site. Eight people are hired to sort and process, and sometimes reconfigure waste.
With the kind assistance of good people 268Good people also launched a national education program to encourage more residents to recycle something, something that Kelisha Piggot was hired to help.
She says working with the organization is changing life.
“There are many people with disabilities who have no one to turn to. Joshuanet shapes me to believe in myself more. It was because of her that I took advantage of the opportunity to apply for a university and I entered,” Kelisha admires.
With the kind assistance of good people 268She hopes her online degree in tourism management will ultimately merge her small tourist company with good people to create additional job opportunities.
“The change begins with us. I was amazed to see how many plastic we diverted from the landfills for a short time; imagine if everyone did it,” she says.
There were also some smaller triumphs. Like the 10-year-old girl, who has not been able to use the toilet at school for a few years without help due to the lack of a wheelchair. This abuse is largely overlooked until Joshuanet has accepted it as a personal endeavor, which led to the creation of an affordable bathroom.
“We need to displace the way we do things. People with disabilities should be able to do the same things that everyone else can,” Joshuaneta says passionately. “I am so excited by what I know good people can achieve.”
Plans include the deployment of the recycling scheme of private households and ultimately setting up a targeted center for consolidating the various work of the group.
Still, she is aware of the challenges ahead. Even a stroll through the capital, St. Jones, is filled with dangers for many with disabilities, thanks to the ubiquitous open gutters, roughly covered sewers and cracked flooring.
Gemma Handy“Accessibility is a serious concern,” says Bernard Warner, head of the Disability Association in the country. “For starters, there is no access to auxiliary devices to help people live more firmly.”
Both Bernard's group and good people call for legislation adopted in 2017, which seeks to protect the rights of people with disabilities to be implemented. The equal rights tribunal was a key part of the law, but it was never created.
“There is a lot of discrimination; people are treated with indifference or deviate from employment opportunities,” Bernard says. “And because of poverty, most have no money to hire lawyers.”
Bernard lost his right leg when his engine was struck by a drunk driver in 1996. Despite the prolonged lawsuit that ruled in his favor, he has never received compensation.
Gemma Handy“After years of pain, I am now gathering for a better society,” he explains. “We have to change our thinking with how we look at people with disabilities. We leave them too long. Even now I see buildings with tall buildings without access to disabilities,” he adds.
Kelly Hedges, director of the Center for Victory for Children with Special Needs, agrees. Currently, her school has 27 students aged five to 18 years.
“The challenge is that when our students leave us as young adults, where do they go? People are still cautious of hiring people with special needs or disabilities. Unless they have personal relationships or can go to work with a parent, they usually just stay home,” she says.
The Victory Center is among the schools that have joined the recycling scheme of good people.
Gemma Handy“As good people get bigger and need more staff, we hope that our children can get involved there, become contributing members of society and live more independently,” Kelly adds.
Joshuanet believes that mental health should be a key focus on awareness of disability. Despite her positive perspective, she admits that depression has hit again recently when she is 30 years old and still cannot afford her own home.
She continues to fight for compensation against the company, which she says she fired her unfairly.
“The battle is exhausting,” she says. “But change will only happen when more people talk about disability and change of demand.”