Promotion of access legislation in Ghana - prospects and challenges
posed to the Ghana Federation of the Disabled
Gertrude Newman, Ghana Federation of the Disabled, Ghana
Abstract
The issue of promotion of a barrier-free environment
for persons with disabilities is currently recognized as a key prerequisite
for the early and full integration of persons with disabilities in the community.
However, to date, little concrete action has been implemented in Ghana towards
this promotion. This paper highlights the significance of a barrier-free
environment for persons with disabilities and discusses the prospects and
challenges posed to the Ghana Federation of the Disabled (FODA) with respect
to campaigns to promote access legislation in Ghana.
Introduction
The Ghana Federation of the Disabled (FODA) was established
in 1987 with the founding members as: the Ghana Association of the Blind,
Ghana National Association of the Deaf, and the Ghana Society of the Physically
Disabled. One of the major objectives of the Federation is to provide a
common platform and pressure group to promote the right of persons with
disabilities to participate fully, and on equal terms in community activities.
The Federation of the Disabled was formally established at a Leadership
Development Seminar organized jointly by the three founding associations,
and sponsored by the Disabled Peoples' International (DPI). The key areas
covered by the Seminar included:
the development of cooperation links between organizations of persons
with disabilities, governmental institutions, and non-governmental organizations,
the education of the public on issues of persons with disabilities.
The seminar brought together professional and voluntary personnel from governmental
and non-governmental organizations to meet together with organizations of
persons with disabilities to discuss various issues related to the welfare
of disabled persons in Ghana. The seminar kindled the awareness of the organizations
of persons with disabilities of the fact that the attainment of full participation
and equality in the community can only be possible if a united front is
built to develop cooperation links with various governmental and non-governmental
organizations whose stipulated functions are related to the welfare of persons
with disabilities.
So far, this cooperation has focused on promoting the right of persons with
disabilities to equal opportunities in education and employment. This paper
highlights the significance of a barrier-free environment for persons with
disabilities, and discusses the prospects and challenges posed to FODA with
respect to campaigns to promote access legislation in Ghana.
The issue of accessibility in Ghana
The issue of a barrier-free environment for persons
with disabilities as significant prerequisite for enhancing the right of
the disabled in the community has been, to some extent, recognized by the
Department of Social Welfare and some organizations of persons with disabilities.
But to date, the emphasis has been to ensure that barrier-free environment
exists at the special institutions of training and employment of persons
with disabilities.
For example, the Ghana Society of the Physically Disabled set up in 1984
a Training Center for the Disabled near Kumasi (at Jachie) where accessibility
to the buildings and all other facilities by persons with disabilities was
incorporated in the design. This center now serves as an excellent model
of a barrier-free school in Ghana. The Society formed a Sub-Committee which
collaborated at various levels with the architects, quantity surveyors as
well as with the construction firm at pre-construction and site meetings
to ensure that the barrier-free requirements of the Center were adhered
to. The Department of Social Welfare has also ensured that its Rehabilitation
Centers for the Disabled are readily accessible to various categories of
disabled persons. However, these attempts seem to suggest that only the
special institutions for persons with disabilities need to be barrier-free.
This line of thinking has been widely acceptable in the context of the traditional
rehabilitation strategy where the training and employment of persons with
disabilities is undertaken in segregated institutions. This rehabilitation
strategy seems to suggest that persons with disabilities need not join his
or her non-disabled colleagues in the community for education, employment,
recreation and other social activities. This factor has been the major socio-cultural
constraint for the promotion of access legislation in Ghana.
Planned actions of the Ghana Federation of the Disabled
The Ghana Federation of the Disabled (FODA) recognizes
that full participation and equality of disabled persons in the community
can only be realistic and sustainable if disabled people are encouraged
to integrate early into the community in all socio-economic activities:
education, employment, commerce, recreation, community development programs
and all other social activities.
In this direction, the Federation had embraced the concept of Community-Based
Rehabilitation, where a wide range of options are made accessible to persons
with disabilities in the community where he or she lives, to enable him
or her to develop a way of living that allows his or her full participation
in all aspects of life in that community. The range of options include restorative,
medical, educational, vocational, placement, as well as social services.
It is obvious that a key prerequisite for the success of a Community-Based
Rehabilitation is a barrier-free environment for persons with disabilities
to enhance unhindered interaction and use of facilities and services in
the community. The Federation has identified the key players in the rehabilitation
of disabled people as:
the community in which people with disabilities live,
non-governmental organizations,
the disabled person him/herself.
Currently, the concept of rehabilitation shared by these key players is
still based in the strategy of segregated training and employment of persons
with disabilities, which does not fully recognize the significance of the
promotion of a barrier-free environment in the community for persons-with
disabilities. There is therefore the need to re-orientate these key players
to change their concept of rehabilitation to focus on early integration
of disabled people in all aspects of community life, which shall necessarily
be enhanced by the promotion of a barrier-free environment.
The Federation has embarked on a drive to develop and strengthen cooperation
links with governmental and non-governmental organizations who are related
to the issue of the welfare of persons with disabilities.
One of the major planned strategies in this endeavor is by the organization
of joint seminars and workshops between the Federation and these organizations
to discuss and develop collaborative action plans for the Community-Based
Rehabilitation Program in Ghana, which will include the promotion of access
design and legislation.
In this direction, the Federation is organizing a workshop in April 1992
on Community-Based Rehabilitation in Ghana in collaboration with related
governmental and non-governmental organizations. The workshop, which will
be financially supported by the Norwegian Association of the Disabled, shall
have the following objectives:
to identify the key components and requirements of a Community-Based
Rehabilitation Program in Ghana,
to identify the members of the community, professionals and agencies
who shall play vital roles in the Program,
to upgrade the consciousness of these persons and agencies of their
respective roles in the Program,
to develop and produce an Action Plan for the short-term and medium-term
Community-Based Rehabilitation Program in Ghana.
In this workshop, it is expected that the promotion of access design and
legislation in Ghana shall be identified as one of the key components and
requirements of the Community-Based Rehabilitation Program. However, the
Federation recognizes the reality that at a workshop with the wide scope
of planning on overall Community-Based Rehabilitation Program for Ghana,
only a preliminary coverage of the rather comprehensive strategies for the
promotion of access design and legislation can be attained. It shall therefore
be necessary to organize a follow-up workshop focusing mainly on the strategies
toward the promotion of access design and legislation, as well as the enforcement
and monitoring of this legislation. The Federation intends to work towards
the organization of this follow-up workshop. As a prelude to this planned
workshop, the key professionals and agencies have already been identified
who shall play vital roles in this promotion and subsequent activities.
It is imperative for the FODA to initiate the development and strengthening
of cooperation links with these identified agencies and to institute strategies
to lobby the political bodies such as the District Assemblies on the issue.
With respect to the coordination of the inter-disciplinary roles and activities
involved in the effort, the Federation recommends the formation of a statutory
body by the Government of Ghana to be known as the Ghana National Commission
on Disabled Persons to undertake this significant role. The Federation shall
work in close cooperation with this proposed commission on all issues related
to the welfare of persons with disabilities.
Conclusion
The issue of promoting and enforcing a barrier-free
environment for persons with disabilities should be a significant component
of any meaningful effort to encourage the early and full integration of
persons with disabilities in all aspects of community activities. The actions
involved in the promotion, promulgation, enforcement and monitoring of access
legislation require a carefully planned and coordinated inter-disciplinary
effort involving several governmental and non-governmental organizations.
There exist great prospects to mobilize these organizations to play their
respective roles in this important endeavor. The Ghana Federation of the
Disabled faces the immense challenge of initiating the inter-disciplinary
effort by sensitizing the awareness of these organizations of their roles
and to develop collaborative strategies with them to progressively ensure
free accessibility for persons with disabilities in the community. The Federation
accepts to take up this challenge to enhance the right of persons with disabilities
to full participation and equality in his or her community in Ghana.
