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December 17, 2009
People with disabilities insist on their rights -Ghana
The following news was downloaded from the mailing list of "Disability and Development" with a cooperation of the publisher, Mr. Soya Mori.
Date: 04-Dec-2009
The Brong-Ahafo branch of the Ghana Federation of the Disabled on Thursday called for the inclusion of the rights of people with disabilities in the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
Ms Mahammadu Sirina, Acting Secretary of the National Women's Wing of the Ghana Society of the Physically Disabled, made the call in an interview with the Ghana News Agency in Sunyani, as part of activities marking World Disability Day, which was on the theme: "Making the Millennium Development Goals Inclusive for Persons With Disabilities."
She said non-inclusion of the rights of persons with disabilities in the MDGs would have serious repercussions on the country's developmental efforts.
"The nation collectively needs the talents of all sections of the population, including the physically challenged in order to move it forward. There's no need to marginalise such people", she stated.
Ms Sirina said contrary to the free education policy in the country, a lot of people with disabilities continued to pay for tuition at all levels of the educational structure.
The acting women's wing secretary, expressed disappointment about inaccessibility to public places and structures such as schools, hospitals, banks, district assemblies and other government agencies and public libraries by physically challenged persons.
She called for the provision of Braille, sound interpreters and wheelchairs for disabled persons in schools and public hospitals to improve on their access to such facilities.
Ms Sirina abhorred the discrimination against people with disabilities, saying it was wrong for society to view them as second rate citizens.
She called for public education to change people's perceptions about them.
http://news.peacefmonline.com/social/200912/33524.php
Posted by jicafriends at December 17, 2009 03:57 PM