‘We’ll marry one another if you don’t marry us’ - PWDs

A member of the Ghana Disability Movement, Mr Elvis Alipui, on Friday urged Persons with Disability (PWDs) to accept marriage proposals among themselves since the able-bodied persons often refused marriage proposals from them.

He noted that almost 90 per cent of married PWDs were marriages contracted between one disabled person and another because of societal discrimination and stigmatisation.

Mr Atipui noted that they often face hostile reception from the public any time a disabled person approached an able person to propose marriage, which is often accompanied with unprintable insults and ridiculous remarks.

Mr Atipui said this at a Town Hall Meeting organised by the Ghana Anti-Corruption Coalition (GACC) at Nima, a suburb of Accra, to galvanise public support to bridge the widening inequality gap in the country.

His comments attracted spontaneous applause and cheers from the audience, especially the disabled groups, with some giving him thumps up for declaring their heartfelt needs on a public platform.

The meeting brought together PWDs, youth groups, traders, women associations and civil society organisations.

Mr Atipui said although Ghana’s Disability Law, 2006, (Act 715) aimed at ending the discrimination faced by People with Disability, the 10-years moratorium given by the Act for old buildings to be renovated to disability-friendly status had not been met.

He said PWDs continued to suffer discrimination when boarding public transport and the Ghana Private Road Transport Union (GPRTU) had done nothing to improve the seating arrangements in commercial vehicles to make them comfortable.

Mr Atipui entreated the faith-based organisations to renovate their buildings to reflect the prescribed policy noting that if the nation could bridge the gap of inequality, it must start from religious organisations and homes.