Takoradi, Sept 27, GNA - Ghanaians have been asked to desist from giving alms and offers to deaf and dumb beggars, who operate in the streets of cities and towns in the country.
Mr. Joe Ewusi-Ntenah, president of the Western Regional branch of the Ghana National Association of the Deaf (GNAD), made the call at a press conference in Takoradi on Monday.
It formed part of activities marking this year’s International Week of Deaf Persons, which was on the theme: “Breaking the Communication Barrier between Deaf and Hearing through Sign Language”, to encourage people without hearing impairment to undertake sign language courses to bridge the communication gap.
Mr. Ewusi-Ntenah said deaf and dumb beggars, including some foreign nationals, harass people on the streets.
He said “some use specially inscribed envelopes for assistance but use the monies for other socially unacceptable behaviour such as drinking and womanizing.”
Mr. Ewusi-Ntenah claimed that investigation by GNAD revealed that patrons of these beggars engaged them in indecent activities.
He said that the Sekondi/Takoradi Metropolitan Assembly had trained some deaf and dumb persons and gave them other forms of assistance to enable them to be self-reliant.
“These people have no right to beg. Anyway, begging is a crime and the society must discourage these people from engaging in the act”.
Mr. Ewusi-Ntenah has called on the Ghana Police Service to assist the deaf and dumb, especially when the miscreants among them are arrested.
DSP Huseini Musah Awinaba, Takoradi District Crime Officer, promised that the Service would rid the society of miscreants including beggars.
He advised the public not to, lynch, assault or molest suspected criminals but to send them to the police station, and said that “the deaf and dumb needs special assistance particularly in cases of arrest”.
Mr. Jonathan Amuah, Governor of the Board of Africa Contact Group for Mental Health and Deafness, called on private and public institutions to include the concerns of the deaf and dumb in national development programmes.
He mentioned education, employment and the integration of sign language in national activities particularly in health care delivery.
Mr. Amuah expressed worry that the deaf and dumb were often restricted from participating in socio-political activities as information transmitted through the electronic media was not accessible to them due to the lack of sign language interpreters.
“The deaf community therefore calls on all TV stations to make their programmes more accessible to deaf persons in the country. This can be through the infusion of captions or subtitles and integration of sign language interpretations in TV programmes”, he said.
