Many Ghanaian living with disabilities?

Statistics have shown that, over 2 million Ghanaians are living with various degrees of disabilities.

This means that people living with disabilities form a substential propotion of the population in the country.

However, their roles in governance and income levels are nothing to write home about.

Such people are highly stigmatized and discriminated against within their families.

To address issues and concerns of the vulnerable people and disabuse the perception, the public hold about such people, the Kumasi Cheshire Home in tantem with Leonard Cheshire International, has organised an advocacy workshop in Kumasi to address these concerns.

In a welcome address, the Administrator of the Kumasi Cheshire Home, Mr. Owusu Adjei explained that the workshop was precipatated by the fact that, disabled people have been neglected for far too long when it comes to their re-integration into the society after they have been rehabilitated mentally or physically.

He noted that, the neglect of disabled persons is corroborated by the delayance in the passage of the Disability Bill by Parliament.

Reffering to how the passage of the ROPA Bill was ficilitated by the majority nin Parliament (NPP), he indicated, that was a clear signal the politicians only think of power and not the people especially those with disabilities.

When the Regional Director of Social Welfare Mad. Nancy Owusu took her turn at the workshop, she presented the facts that, even though the Social Welfare is working assiduously to help transform lives, the society within which the disabled persons would be reintegrated after rehabilitation, does not accept their own people back.

This according to the Director, poses a herculean task for the social welfare.

She appealed to the media to help the welfare in its efforts to educate the public about the need to accept disabled people back to the society since most of them are medically proven fit after their rehabilitation.