Ghana Blind Union appeals for white canes

The Executive Director of the Ghana Blind Union (GBU), Dr Peter Obeng-Asamoa, has appealed to the public to help purchase white canes for visually impaired people in order to enable them to move around freely without assistance.

He made the appeal on GTV’s Breakfast Show today, November 8, 2022.

Dr Peter Obeng-Asamoa said white canes are imported from India and China by the Union and supplied to visually impaired people.

This he noted, is because Ghana does not produce white canes hence, the need for Ghanaians to support visually impaired persons to acquire them.

“We don’t have white canes because we’ve never produced white canes. We don’t have white canes because we’ve not really seen it as a priority to provide white canes to these people. We don’t have white canes because it’s never really been anybody’s interest” Dr Obeng-Asamoa said.

He said statistics from the Ministry of Health indicate that about 230,000 people are blind and partially sighted in Ghana. Of the number, only 40% have white canes — which is one of their basic needs.

Dr Obeng-Asamoa said visually impaired people have a lot to contribute to the development of the country if they are given the necessary support and opportunity.

“Most people like to look at blind people as people who need pity…Blind people don’t need pity and we don’t need sympathy…what we want is empathy and opportunity. That is what we need” he added.