The Ghana Blind Union (GBU) has called on Ghanaians to respect their fundamental human rights and dignity as the Union campaigns for all inclusive justice for all persons living in Ghana.
They said societal barriers such as discrimination, stigmatization, difficulty in accessing justice and isolation had led to the retardation of the holistic social development of the visually-impaired people.
They made this known during a one- day stakeholders’ seminar held on July 21, 2021, at Bole, on access to justice for Visually-Impaired and Partially Sighted Persons in the Savannah Region.
At the stakeholders’ engagement,it was however noted that with appropriate training and support, visually-impaired persons could largely overcome obstacles of their impairment, either by attainment of formal education or acquisition of employable skills and thus obtain sustainable source of living.
Madam Elizabeth Zotorvie, programs manager of Ghana Blind Union, said the successful removal of such societal barriers would ensure full development of the potentials and sense of dignity of the visually-impaired and partially-sighted people so as to enable them to contribute significantly to nation building.
Madam Elizabeth said the task of reversing the negative perceptions about blindness in addition to ensuring that blind persons lived decent and productive lives was a herculean one that required a lot of resources.
The Programs Manager of the Ghana Blind Union further urged parents and guardians not to abandon their children and wards affected by blindness, but give them equal attention and care as their abled-bodied children.
Madam Elizabeth, observed that it was an unfortunate truth that the history of blind persons in Ghana was largely one of exclusion and marginalization.
She said: “This historical disadvantage has to a great extent been shaped and perpetuated by the notion that blindness is an abnormality or a curse hence making us suffer all forms of abuse”.
She said said following a current survey conducted on abuse of blind persons, it was revealed that 90 per cent of blind victims living in the rural communities who were abused repeatedly did not report their pains to authorities as most thought it would be futile to do so.
“Blind people, who are victims, cite futility, fear and lack of information as reasons for not reporting,” she said.
On types of abuse, the Programs manager of GBU stated that 87.2 per cent reported verbal-emotional abuse, while 50.6 per cent reported physical abuse, with 41.6 per cent suffering from sexual abuse, 37 per cent were neglected and 31.5 per cent experienced financial abuse.
She said the rate of sexual abuse varied greatly along gender lines, as 65 per cent of blind women reported they had been victims of sexual abuse.
“The rates of non-reporting are high even with the most serious forms of abuse, for example, some 40 per cent of victims of physical abuse (violence) did not report it to the authorities and more than 41 per cent of victims of sexual abuse did report,” she said.
She however appealed to the National Commission on Civic Education and the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice, the police, Judicial Service and traditional authorities whom were all present at meeting on the need to inform and educate Ghanaians about the risk of abuse to their family members who are blind and also called for collaborative efforts amongst which was a national dialogue as well as an extensive media engagement that would help raise issues for attitudes to change as that was the main setback to the inhumane tortures being churned out to blind persons.
She therefore advised members of the GBU to report all abuse cases to appropriate authorities as reducing the risk of abuse and improving the reporting of suspected abuse was only a part of t way to addressing the problems of Injustice meted out to the blind.
Source: Yagbonradioonline
