Gov't urged to establish National Council on Disability

Accra, Aug. 5, GNA - Miss Grace Preko, Coordinator, Ghana Federation of the Disabled, has called for the establishment of a National Council on Disability to help in finding solutions to problems of physically challenged people.

"If the government is for social justice, it should be seen to be caring for the disabled in more positive terms," Miss Preko told the Ghana News Agency in an interview in Accra.

"Our main problem is the attitude of the Ghanaian; we are to be seen and not to be heard and when it comes to decision-making about us, we are treated like children," she said.

She said the assumption that the physically challenged are not capable of taking wise decisions about themselves is inhibiting their progress.

Miss Preko said the proposed rehabilitation of beggars in the Accra Metropolis fizzled out because the beggars were not part of the decision.

"I believe they thought beggars have no choice. I personally do not subscribe to begging for alms but you do not show contempt for someone you hardly know and expect him to swallow unilateral decisions." She said begging is adding to the contempt the general public has for the disabled and called for a win-win approach to solving the problem.

"Begging, I hear is lucrative but helps in preventing able bodied escorts from exploring positive aspects of life. Why don't we dialogue with them to arrive at a solution. For all you know, they hold the key to their own upliftment."

She appealed to the media to highlight issues on disability because "Ghanaians are behaving as if there are no disabled persons in their midst".