Parents asked not to confine children with intellectual disability

Parents of children with Intellectual Disability (ID) have been advised not to hide or confine their children into seclusion, but to ensure their proper development and integration into society.

Mr Auberon Jeleel Odoom, National Co-ordinator of Inclusion Ghana, a non-governmental organization (NGO) which focuses on children with Intellectual Disability, made the call at a gathering of parents of children with ID from all over Ghana, in Accra on Thursday.

He appealed to parents to acquire knowledge on ID to enable them take good care of their children.

Mr Odoom asked society to stop the stigmatization of such children so that their parents would stop confining them.

Mr Odoom called on government to enact laws specifically on the handling of ID children to prevent them from being abused and discriminated against.

He called for the placement of special doctors at the various government hospitals to take good care o f ID children, since they needed special care when they fell sick.

Mr Odoom said the NGO was working to educate parents of children with ID on how to take good care of them.

He said the NGO has branches in all the ten regions of the country, and called on parents with ID children to seek more information and knowledge on handling their children.

Mr Odoom expressed his appreciation to STAR Ghana for donating $150,000 to the NGO to implement its activities.

“We have also received $20,000.00 from the Disability Right, an American NGO, to specifically help us address issues pertaining to discrimination against children with ID”, he said.

Mr Odoom appealed to parents of children with ID to send them to special schools for children with disability.

In an open forum, parents appealed to each other to always ensure that their children were well dressed, report teachers and people who abused such children, to the appropriate authorities and also spend more time with their children.