PWDs unhappy with ‘unfriendly’ projects like community day SHS

The National Council on Persons with Disability has revealed that the Ghana Standard on Accessibility Design is being fine-tuned to address concerns of persons with disability.

The Council added that the accessibility design will guide developers and designers in the planning, design and execution of both public and private facilities.

It is estimated that at least 3% of Ghana’s population has one form of disability. And as part of measures to promote an inclusive society, the Disability Act was passed in 2006 to address among others, the needs of persons with disability.

Section 6 of ACT (715) 2006 and Article 9 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disability require that public and private buildings, roads, schools, medical facilities and work places are made disability friendly.

The Council indicated that a 10-year moratorium, which was granted to public and private facility owners after ACT (715) 2006 was passed to enable them modify already existing buildings to be disability friendly, elapsed in August.

However, previous reports by 3news.com revealed that persons with disability are unhappy about the slow pace of policy implementation.

They cited the George Walker Bush N1 highway, some of the new Junior High Schools and Community Day Senior High Schools are not disability friendly, a situation that threatens the quest to address the needs of persons with disability.

To address these difficulties, the Council on Persons with Disability has been collaborating with stakeholders such as the Ghana Federation of Disability Organisations and Ghana Standards Authority to fine-tune the Ghana Standard on Accessibility Design for gazetting.

Acting Executive Secretary of the National Council on Persons with Disability Kwamena Dadzie Dennis stressed the accessibility designs would be incorporated into Ghana’s building regulations.

A Member of the Council, Lilian Bruce Lyle, also pleaded with property owners to modify buildings into disability-friendly facilities.

The Council, however, hinted the Ghana Standard Accessibility Designs if gazetted would serve as a basis to prosecute those who will refuse to make their buildings and other ancillary facilities disability friendly.