[ad_1]
The president of the Governing Board of the National Council of Persons with Disabilities has stated that persons with disabilities do not need the sympathy or charity of the public, but rather opportunities that allow them to show their potential.
Mr. Yaw Ofori-Debrah said that “people with disabilities need opportunity, not charity. They need understanding, not compassion. They need equality and fairness, not consideration.”
Mr. Ofori-Debrah made the remarks on Thursday, December 3, 2020, during the inaugural Disability Inclusion Summit to mark this year’s International Day of Persons with Disabilities.
He noted that “the days when disability was associated with doom and sadness are over; the days when people with disabilities were seen as a burden to their families are no more.”
According to the President of the Board, people with disabilities are acquiring a higher education, while others are acquiring skills that make them independent, and many of them are the breadwinners of their families.
He called on the public to ensure that the rights of people with disabilities are recognized, accepted and respected.
Delivering the summit speech on the topic “NOT ALL DISABILITIES ARE VISIBLE: Building standards for disability inclusion and sustainability post COVID-19 Ghana”, Executive Secretary of the National Council of Persons with Disabilities, Attorney Esther Akua Gyamfi announced some Council activities, with the supervision of the Hon. Minister for Gender, Children and Social Protection, Hon. Cynthia Mamle Morrison, are getting engaged.
They include the development of a disaggregated database on people with disabilities. He explained that the collection of reliable data will inform policy making and policy direction.
The others are the revision of the 2006 Law on Persons with Disabilities (Law 715), to reflect the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which is currently in the drafting stage; monitor the disbursement and management of 3% of the common fund for people with disabilities with the Disability Fund Administrative Commissions in the different Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies.
It also revealed that Livelihoods Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) is being refocused to include people with disabilities over 60; and provide resources to Council staff to improve their work.
Lawyer Akua Gyamfi further mentioned that all United Nations groups are seriously mainstreaming disability issues in all areas of their work, because they have adopted the Disability Inclusion Strategy.
He stated that the sustainable development goals cannot be achieved without the inclusion of disability. Therefore, he called for the constant support of the disability community to contribute to the development of policies and strategies that ensure that disability is mainstreamed at all levels of development.
In a speech read on his behalf, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo acknowledged that people with disabilities are often marginalized and abused, adding that their contribution to national development does not receive the necessary attention.
He assured that the Government is committed to guaranteeing that persons with disabilities enjoy to the maximum their fundamental human rights, enshrined in the 1992 constitution; as well as ensuring that their well-being and dignity are maintained at a high level in society.
Addressing the summit theme, President Akufo-Addo charged state institutions, organizations, and individuals to consciously employ proactive measures to include people with disabilities in all facets of the sustainable development goals; thus, educationally, economically, socially and politically, to make life more dignified for people with disabilities, during and after COVID-19.
