A Consultant for Dislabelled Care, Aba Amegatcher, has urged Ghanaians to be empathetic towards people who are physically challenged to help them grow their capabilities.

At a forum held for practitioners in the disability space on Saturday themed “Forum for practitioners/NGOs in the disability space,” Mrs Amegatcher indicated that People Living With Disabilities (PLWD) are often stigmatised, a situation that often takes a toll on the abilities that they have.

“It is important that we do not limit the potentials of these people, [People living with disabilities] by the labels that we place on them. It is really about embracing them as people who are also in our community,” she said.

Dislabelled Care is a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) that works to champion education and career opportunities for people who are physically challenged in the country. Established in 2013, the nonprofit organisation has worked with key stakeholders and practitioners like parents, healthcare providers and policymakers to deliberate on best methods on how to handle issues of PLWD.

Periodically, Dislabelled Care also trains and hold seminars for practitioners to build a network, collaborate and learn how to significantly impact the lives of the physically challenged people.

This, the consultant said is one of the best means to harness the abilities of persons who are physically challenged to considerably influence their lives and propel the country as a whole.

“People with disabilities have to become visible, we need to be able to create schools that can house and teach them to work with the abilities that they have. We need schools that don’t focus on their inabilities but focus on their abilities and harness it,” she noted.

Mrs Amegatcher acknowledged the work of government, citing the rehabilitation centre in Accra central that caters to people with disabilities however hoped for more to be done to support PWLD.

“As policymakers, we all have to be more cognizant of the experiences of people who are living with disabilities in Ghana and to make policies that are more inclusive of them,” she added.

Addressing the participants on the topic “Financing your Organisation,” an Investment Professional, Prince Dagadu highlighted the importance of recording keeping and urged participants to readily keep records for future references.

He noted these are social entrepreneurs should run their social enterprise like any other business so as to develop their business and make more impact in the lives of PLWD.

“If they are able to put out their income and expenditure statement [that will be good], because these are documents that could help them get some more funding for their activities, especially through some of these impact funds,” he advised.

The Soronko Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Regina Honu also urged practitioners to take their organisation to the next level and push to acquire the best for the PLWD the take care of.

“Assert yourself worth, know your value and don’t let anyone bring you down,” she stressed.

Speaking to the Founder of Hopesetters Autism Center, Baaba Enchil who was a participant at the forum, she said she was enlightened with what she learnt and noted she was going to execute the nuggets she had learnt to her centre to positively impact the lives of her autistic students.

There are over five million people living with intellectual and physical disabilities and the Dislabelled Care organisation was established to help consolidate effort and support to strengthen the impact they have in the lives of the people.

The organisation has won many awards including the Queen’s Young Leader Award and the Diana Award.