As Ghanaians continue to battle with the economic hardship plaguing the country, a Lawyer has proposed three ways the government and the private sector can make life easy for persons with disabilities (PWDs).
The proposals cover transportation, employment and direct state intervention.
Lawyer Caruthers Tetteh wants private transport companies such as Uber, Bolt, Yango and others to come up with a discount scheme for persons with disabilities, as part of their cooperate social responsibilities.
The rising cost of living in the country is making life extra difficult for persons with disabilities, who say they are the most affected.
They cite high transport fares as one of the major drains on their finances. And Mr. Tetteh, who also has a visual impairment, believes that a scheme by the transport companies that gives discount to their disabled clients will bring some amount of relief to persons with disabilities in the country.
He is also calling on the government to increase the percentage of the District Assemblies’ common fund for persons with disabilities.
According to Mr. Tetteh, the current 3% common fund for PWDs is not able to meet their needs.
Additionally, he wants the common funds to be made accessible.
Lawyer Caruthers Tetteh also spoke about the effective implementation of labour laws that favour persons with disabilities.
He is of the view that if the provisions of the Labour Act that give tax incentives to institutions that employ PWDs, and also to entrepreneurs with disabilities are implemented effectively, the lot of persons with disabilities in the country will improve tremendously.
He points out that their disabilities already are difficult to deal with and if conscious efforts are not made to cushion them, situations like the current economic crisis make life extra difficult for them.
“We are badly affected because the system is very challenging and secondly, we have a challenge, which is our disability to deal with. So, if the environment is not conducive, if the system is not supporting enough, it becomes very very bad; we experience the worse effect of it”, he says.
Lawyer Caruthers Tetteh who was one of the lawyers recently called to the Bar, made the suggestions during the filming of an interview edition of Adonai Studios’ disability advocacy programme dubbed THISABILITY.
Adonai Studios, under its THISABILITY project, uses short drama films, documentaries and interviews for public education on disability rights and inclusion.
The episode with Lawyer Caruthers Tetteh, profiles the young lawyer and aims at educating the public and motivating persons with disabilities with his story.
The interview is expected to be released early December.
SOURCE: DisabilityNewsGH.com