SUPPORT FOR PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES (NOV 4, 2008)

PERSONS with disabilities have, time and again, reminded members of the public to stop looking down on them because of their physical predicament. According to them, those who are in doubt about their contributions to the growth of society should take note of their abilities, not their physical disabilities.
Although the spectacle of persons with disabilities begging along the major streets of all the cities and towns in the country is an eyesore, there are many physically-challenged persons who are contributing their quota to national development.
It is for this reason that many well-meaning people in the country do not understand why some physically-challenged persons are prepared to endure the scorn and insults of those they accost in traffic every day to part with a few pesewas and cedis.
Indeed, the country’s legal framework frowns on begging and stipulates clear penalties for both the giver and the taker, but for certain religious considerations this legislation is difficult to enforce.
The DAILY GRAPHIC thinks that those who aid beggars to continue to find the streets more lucrative than productive endeavours are not helping the fight to clear the streets of beggars.
We know that in some isolated cases physically-challenged persons have abandoned their vocations to take to the streets to beg because of the lack of support from the government and the banks in the form of credit to sustain their vocations.
In view of the frustrations being faced by some physically-challenged persons to be productive, and the demeaning behaviour of those who beg on the streets, the DAILY GRAPHIC considers the intervention of the government to enable persons with disabilities to get adequate benefits from the District Assemblies Common Fund very welcome.
The Minister of Manpower, Youth and Employment, Nana Akomea, in a speech read on his behalf at the 50th anniversary and graduation ceremony of the Ghana Society of the Socially Disadvantaged in Accra at the weekend, said the government had directed that two per cent of the common fund be set aside for education and advocacy purposes to serve the needs of persons with disabilities.
This initiative, coupled with the National Social Protection Strategy, should empower vulnerable groups, especially persons with disabilities, to access credit to expand their busiensses or start new ones.
We appeal to persons with disabilities to take advantage of these facilities to contribute their quota to the development of the country. The facilities provide the platform for them to be part of the productive group of the country, for, after all, there is dignity in labour.
While commending the government for providing safety nets to address the concerns of the vulnerable in society, the DAILY GRAPHIC calls on the state apparatus charged with the responsibility to disburse the facilities not to be bogged down by red-tapeism.
Most of our offices are not disability-friendly and if the procedures are not simplified for the beneficiaries, the physically-challenged will turn their backs on the initiative.
All able-bodied persons who will be in charge of the exercise should see their mandate as their contribution to efforts to improve the production capacity and skills of the physically-challenged.