Public Agenda (Accra)
Frederick Asiamah
29 June 2009
opinion
Accra — On countless occasions, the disability movement in Ghana, led by the Ghana Federation of the Disabled (GFD), has called on policy actors to mainstream disability into policy. One giant step which was taken in response to this call was the passage of the Persons with Disability Act, 2006 (Act 715).
But because policy actors seemingly went to sleep after passing the law, it became necessary for the GFD to reiterate the urgent need for mainstreaming. This the Federation did a fortnight ago at the orientation of about 170 new Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives (MMDCEs) at the Institute of Local Government Studies (ILGS).
MMDCEs, district coordinating directors, district planning officers, district budget officers and district social welfare officers are key target groups of a 12-month advocacy and capacity building project which the GFD is undertaking with sponsorship from the Ghana Research and Advocacy Programme (G-RAP). The orientation therefore presented an unavoidable opportunity.
In its paper titled Mainstreaming Disability into National Development; the Role of the District, Municipal and Metropolitan Assemblies, the Federation stated that an inclusive, barrier-free and rights based society will enable persons with disability (PWDs) enjoy greater freedom through economic and social participation. "These ideas and dreams cannot be realized if duty bearers, especially District Chief Executives and the assemblies do not aim and commit themselves" to change attitudes towards disability, promote the rights of PWDs, and support PWDs to become "independent and self-supporting."
Worldwide, the disability movement and activists are placing more emphasis on the social model definition of disability and are making it the crux of mainstreaming. According to the social model, the loss or limitation of opportunities for persons with physical, sensory or intellectual impairment to partake in the ordinary life of the community on an equal level with others is due to physical, structural and social barriers."
The model gives no room to the traditional or medical definition of disability which dwells on the loss of opportunities for PWDs simply because of their disability.
In its presentation, the GFD said PWDs and activists in Ghana associate themselves with the social model of disability which demands a policy of inclusion. It went on to point out that mainstreaming, in the form that is being advocated, is based on the tenets of the social model.
Thus, "This new crop of Chief Executives should do well to exhibit a profound sense of understanding, humanity and sensitivity towards disability issues by allowing themselves to be guided by the social model of disability." It added that MMDCEs and their assemblies "must appreciate a critical need for a social safety net for PWDs to serve their special needs."
Indeed, the 1992 Constitution of Ghana foresaw the need for mainstreaming and charged the Executive under the Directive Principle of State Policy in Article 37[2 (b)] to enact appropriate laws to assure "the protection and promotion of all other basic human rights and freedoms, including the rights of the disabled?"
Act 715 also provides a platform for mainstreaming. All of its sixty sections seem patterned along the lines of the social model of disability. The Act, organized into eight broad parts, has provisions on Rights of persons with disability, Employment of persons with disability, Education of persons with disability, Transportation, Health-care and facilities, Miscellaneous Provisions, Establishment and functions of National Council on Persons with Disability, and Administrative and financial provisions.
What then is left? Action, of course! That is why the theme A Call to Action: Implementation of the Disability Act which was chosen for this year's National Day of the Disabled (NDD) which fell on Tuesday June 23 was most appropriate.
The ball is in the court of the National Council on Persons with Disability (NCPD), which Act 715 established under Section 41, to garner support from MMDCEs and other government agencies for the mainstreaming of disability issues. Section 42 (1) of Act 715 states: "The object of the Council is to propose and evolve policies and strategies to enable persons with disability enter and participate in the mainstream of the national development process."
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