Disability Act: Impact on persons with Disability

NEWS ON THE COMMENTARY ON THE TENTH ANNIVERSARY OF THE DISABILITY ACT 715: ITS IMPACT ON THE LIVES OF PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES 

Before the promulgation of the disability Act 715 in June 2016, matters affecting persons with disabilities were treated as welfare but not as a matter of right. Persons with disabilities were generally treated as second-class citizens and relegated to the bottom of national development agenda.  This unfortunate state of affairs was not peculiar to persons with disabilities in Ghana but across the globe .It was for this reason that the UN, in 1981 declared that year as international year of persons with disabilities to draw the attention of governments and service providing institutions to factor disability into their development planning and implementation. Ghana, accordingly, passed the disability law on June 23, 2006 and received the presidential assent on 9th August of the same year. 

After ten years of implementation of the Act, much has not changed and the orthodox outlook of disability continues to prevail thereby denying persons with disabilities their birth rights to socio-economic opportunities. The Act is intended to improve the lives of persons with disabilities by opening up opportunities to education, employment, independent mobility and economic participation. It is regrettable to note that the social environment is still full of barriers hindering the inclusion and participation of persons with disabilities in national life including cultural and political activities.  

To remedy and ameliorate these harsh conditions obstructing the independence and freedoms of persons with disabilities, the government must initiate some affirmative actions and social interventionist policies to facilitate the inclusion and participation of persons with disabilities in national development : For example, guaranteeing employment to certificated and qualified persons with disabilities to work in public service: giving incentives to private sector to employ competent persons with disabilities : credit facilities to those who wish to engage in self-employment for persons with disabilities and also create an enabling environment for persons with disabilities to function effectively and independently in society.  

The government is also expected to amend the Disability Act as it does not cover and spell out many-more rights of persons with disabilities. The amendment should incorporate the tenets of the UN convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities to make it more comprehensive and far reaching to benefit the generality. 

BY YAW OFORI DEBRAH, NATIONAL PRESIDENT OF THE GHANA FEDERATION OF DISABILITY ORGANISATIONS.