Provide barrier-free environment for persons with disabilities — Dr Naami

Persons with disabilities (PWDs) have called on the government, other duty bearers and corporate organisations to provide a barrier-free environment to ensure they are able to contribute to national development.

Access barriers, they said, affected their socio-economic, political participation and the psychological well-being and prevented them from fully realising their potential.

The Head of the Department of Social Work of the University of Ghana, Dr Augustina Naami, who made the call, said breaking down the barriers would pave the way for a more inclusive society and help achieve the Sustainable Development Goal 11.

“Most of our facilities, especially washrooms are narrowed with steps and the inside are small for people like me.

 So we crawl in to have access to the facilities which have health implications.

Provision of ramps would help PWDs move about freely and ensure the country achieves the Sustainable Development Goal 11,” she said.

Dr Naami, herself a person with mobility disability, urged the government to tackle the root cause of the challenges PWDs faced in the country, stating “Let’s PWDs be part of the decision making arena and let’s their voices be heard as they are the experts who better understand their issues and can help develop interventions that can help address these barriers.” 

Ceremony

The University of Ghana’s Head of Department of Social Work made the call when she installed and inaugurated eight wheelchair ramps at some entrances of the Ghana Society of the Socially Disadvantaged at Kaneshie.

They included six bathroom door ramps, two toilet ramps, ramp for the store where the students sell their products and a concrete cover over a gutter in the middle of the school, which had split metal covers.

To support Dr Naami’s goal, the Church of Pentecost, Madina District, also donated bags of water, detergents, bar soaps, toilet rolls and books to the centre.

Rationale

The ramps, Dr Naami explained, were to help physically challenged individuals have easy access to some facilities in the school, saying” the execution of the project is a dream come true and is my goal to donate five ramps every year.”

“it is a collective responsibility to ensure a barrier free environment for persons with disabilities.

 We need all hands on desk to achieve the goal of improving access, inclusion and safety for persons with disability,” she said.

Appreciation

The Board Chairperson of the centre, Muriel Robertson, expressed appreciation to the team for building the ramp from their own resources in support of others who were also incapacitated.

She gave the assurance that they would take good care of the facility to ensure it lasted longer to serve the purpose for which it was built.

More Support

A student, Derrick Arthur, on behalf of his colleagues, expressed appreciation to the donors for allowing them to enjoy independence and the ability to take part in social activities of the school.

He urged the community not to shun people who were physically challenged, but rather support them since they were capable of contributing significantly to the development of the community and the nation at large.

“The absence of ramps at the entrance made it difficult and unfriendly for us to access some of the facilities here.

To get access, we had to leave our wheelchairs outside and crawl in and out of the facility even after bathing and it is very devastating,” he added.