Global Disability Watch

Powering Advocacy

  • About
    • Our Team
    • Our Partners
    • Member organisations
  • Resources
    • Literature
    • Videos
    • DGS Journal
    • Events
    • GDW News
  • Contact
  • Regions
    • Africa
    • Asia
    • Europe
    • Latin America & Caribbean
    • Middle East
  • Reports
  • Field Pulse
  • Policy Watch
  • News Picks
  • Write Inside
  • Disability & Development
You are here: Home / Africa / Ghana: ‘We lock up our child with Cerebral Palsy so we can go out and earn a living’

Ghana: ‘We lock up our child with Cerebral Palsy so we can go out and earn a living’

11th February 2017 by Hannah Awadzi

Mr Timothy Nakoja, father of a 14 year old boy with cerebral palsy has said his family is forced to lock up his soon indoors to enable them to work and earn a living.

He said that this was not so much a choice or a matter of cruel treatment, but a response to the fact that there was no formal support in sight and that poverty had to be dealt with:

“We have tried countless times to get the boy admitted into school but to no avail, we are left with no option than to lock him up in a room while we go and earn a living on a daily basis.”

Mr Nakoja was speaking in an interview with the media on the need for government to effectively implement the Inclusive Education Policy in Ghana.

“We were advised by a neurologist to send the boy to the mainstream school since it could facilitate his speech, but we have been unsuccessful. First we tried some private primary schools in our area, but they all rejected him, then we went to try at the Government school in our locality and they refused him admission,” he lamented.

Mr Nakoja said he had been to the Special Education Unit to talk with them on the issue only to meet outright rejection:

“We were referred to the National Resource centre where our son Eliezer was assessed and taken through a psychological test, we were then given a letter to go to Battor Special school, but the school refused him admission on the basis that he was not toilet trained.”

Excuses were many including from private facilities:

“We have been to the Dzorwulu Special School on five occasions, we have been to Hohoe Special School, we have been to a Special School in the North, we have tried some private special schools, but they all give the same excuse, we do not have enough workers and cannot handle your child”

Mr Nakoja said his son who started walking at the age of eight, can neither speak nor use his hands to feed himself. The frequent refusal to admit him had been attributed to the fact that he was not toilet trained and inability to speak, reasons that have become tired:

“Nobody wants to deal with cleaning toilet on a daily basis, but he is a Ghanaian and has a right to education, I wish government could do something about this situation.”

Mr Nakoja said he himself had developed a spinal problem because he was forced to carry the boy all the time:

“I am unable to sit for long hours and it is very difficult to carry him around hence the decision to lock him up in a room while I go and earn a living.”

He called on the government to recruit care-givers especially in government schools and in the special schools to enable them to work with children who have cerebral palsy.

“Children with cerebral palsy are also citizens of Ghana, they have a right to education and quality life, we need schools and centres that admit these children to at least enable parents to work.”

He went on to add that many parents are forced to abandon their career because they have children with cerebral palsy.

Related Posts

  • Ghana: new inclusive education centre for children with cerebral palsyGhana: new inclusive education centre for children with cerebral palsy
  • Ghana: stakeholders call for inclusive community based day care centresGhana: stakeholders call for inclusive community based day care centres
  • Akan Fekuw gives donation to the Special Mothers Project in GhanaAkan Fekuw gives donation to the Special Mothers Project in Ghana

Filed Under: Africa, Write Inside Tagged With: Cerebral Palsy, Ghana

Latest

  • UN Report on the enjoyment of human rights by persons with albinism
  • Canada’s first federal disability law- gaps and ways forward
  • Mothers of children with cerebral palsy trained to make APT Chairs
  • Ghanaian mothers of children with cerebral palsy told to ‘seek help’
Tweets by @GlobalDWatch

Publication Monitor

  1. Discrimination and Violence Against Children With Albinism in Cameroon
  2. Albinism: Report on Investigative Mission on the Situation of Children with Albinism in Temporary Holding Shelters - Tanzania
  3. Research Toolkit for Disabled People’s Organisations: How to undertake and use applied research, LCI London
  4. Equal Access Monitor: Handicap International. Feb 2016
  5. Disability and Rehabilitation Services in Nagaland
  6. Disability & Rehabilitation in the North East of India: working paper

Newsletters

  • August 2016: Lesotho National Federation of the Disabled

Follow us

Join our mailing list

Follow us

GDW

  • Our Team
  • Our Partners
  • Member Orgs

Pages

  • Reports
  • Field Pulse
  • Policy Watch
  • News Picks
  • Development
  • Migration

Be Part of GDW

  • Share a story
  • Become a member organisation

Search

Copyright 2014-20 © 2023 · News Pro Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in