We need jobs : Disabled persons cry out
A group of persons living with disabilities in the Ga Central Municipal Assembly have appealed to the government to create employment opportunities for them to enable them to live meaningful lives.
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According to them, they were constantly being discriminated against in both the public and private sectors.
As a result, some of their members were being compelled to resort to begging while others engaged in menial jobs just to make a living.
Challenges
The group, who made the appeal at a meeting of assembly and Unit Committee members at the Ga Central Assembly in Accra, took turns to express their concerns in sectors such as transportation, education and other social and political participations.
A member of the group, Madam Cynthia Akua Amoa Boateng, said persons with disability were being denied the right to participate fully in public life.
“Increasing employment opportunities for people with disabilities and helping businesses recruit, hire and retain employees with disabilities would go a long way to help us”, she said.
According to her, addressing the challenges of persons with disabilities was essential in creating stable democracies as inequalities in society are reduced.
“Persons with disabilities must be able to fulfil their role in society and participate on an equal basis with others. It is important to focus on the ability and not on the disability of an individual,” she further indicated.
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She lamented over the unavailability of disability-friendly facilities in public buildings to ensure their free movement.
She said she sometimes had to climb over walls and cross other hurdles to gain access to her house and other places of interest.
“It is important to note that disability is part of the human condition, and even though some are born with it, one can become disabled at anytime in life,” she intimated.
Another member of the group, Erick Kojo Sam, who trained as a technician at Accra Polytechnic, said though he completed his national service in 2014 he was yet to get a job.
“I have been unemployed for close to two years and without earning income I am unable to feed myself as well as take care of my other needs,” he said.
He was of the view that some persons with disabilities who had received vocational and technical training could be assisted to set up their own businesses.
“When people are empowered they are better prepared to take advantage of opportunities and become agents of change,” he said.
Common Fund
The Chairperson for persons living with disabilities in the Ga Central Municipal Assembly, Madam Catherine Tsagli, said there were more than 100 disabled persons in the area, but only 38 of them had registered with the assembly.
She said though members had a percentage of the District Assemblies Common Fund to access, they were usually frustrated because of the delays in its release.