Calls for passage of Disability Bill

Accra, May 6, GNA - The Deaf Christian Life Outreach Ministry, a non profit making organisation engaged in teaching Christian values to the deaf on Saturday called on President John Agyekum Kufuor to urge parliament to pass the Disability Bill without any further delay before he leaves office.

Pastor Godfrey Augustt, President and General Overseer of the Ministry, who made the call said the deaf were facing a number of challenges which could be addressed if there was a law on disability. Pastor Augustt, who himself is deaf was speaking at a Deaf Christian historic forum on the theme; Deaf Evangelism, Social Reform, Our Vision-Mission and Challenges.

It brought together the deaf from all regions to discuss issues affecting them and to learn Christian values.

Pastor Augustt said there was the need for sign language to be enshrined in the constitution so that it's importance would be recognized by the public, adding that Ghana needed to learn from Uganda as there was a general positive attitude towards the deaf because they had knowledge in sign language which made them to mix up more comfortably in society.

Pastor Augustt said though education and Gospel work was introduced in Ghana in 1949, Ghana could still not boast of any higher school for the deaf and called on parents to support their deaf children and ensure that they were also educated.

He said interpreters of sign language should be made available at the law courts, educational programmes, news time on television and hospitals because the deaf were part of society and had the right to know what was going around them.