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The Ashanti Regional Secretary of the Ghana Blind Union (GBU), Charles Ofori Baidoo, has intimated that the level of slur and disdain given them in the country makes members weep and feel dejected.
Speaking on Ultimate FM with Julius Caesar Anadem, monitored by MyNewsGh.com as part of sensitization for this year’s white-cane safety day, which falls on the 15th of October globally, he noted that the level of education on white-cane cannot be said to be poor but rather nonexistent in all Ghanaian societies.
“I can tell you that people don’t know why we even hold the white cane. Those are our eyes, our fathers, mothers, girlfriends, boyfriends and our companions.
“The white cane helps us get along, and I can tell you that, after Jesus Christ, the white cane is our Savior that assists us with our mobility, but people disrespect it and us a lot,” he explained.
Mr. Charles Ofori Baidoo urged the government and key stakeholders to do more to propagate the situation of persons who are visually impaired and buy them more white canes.
“Our ministry is the Gender Ministry; their assistance to us can be made much better, but our engagement is poor. Our portion of the 3% of the common fund always delays, and accessing is always difficult.”
“We urge well-meaning Ghanaians to get us more white canes. We don’t produce these canes here and there are taxes on them, which makes them expensive. One white cane is 100 Ghana cedis; they are not that strong and can easily break too. We wish people could produce them here in Ghana so at least each visually impaired person can get one, two or three”, he pleaded.
