A non-governmental organisation, the Centre for Disability Entrepreneurship and Public Policy (CDEPP) has offered to support a physically challenged boy who tumbled from the stairs of the first floor of his school building, worsening his condition.

This was after Joy Learning TV highlighted his plight in a moving documentary titled, ‘A Slipping Dream’.

"I discovered Jeremiah on Joy and I said to myself, ‘Jeremiah is the future’. One thing that I was touched about is not the disability because for me, I don’t see the disability in me. I see more potential. So when I heard him say he wanted to be a designer, I said wow, somebody needs to support Jeremiah. And I think, that is the potential that a lot of people living with disability have.

"People with disability are ambitious because of the circumstance they find themselves in. So when you find a person living with disability begging, it’s not because he hasn’t gotten any potential. He has the potential, but society is making him feel differently. So he relegates to the circumstance. So I realised he had the potential and I thought, somebody needs to put a smile on his face", he narrated.

The Executive Director of the Centre, Veronica Mansah Dorsey, reaffirmed the organisation's commitment to assisting persons living with disabilities.

Jeremiah Kwame Badu Jnr. is an 18-year-old boy who tumbled from the stairs of the first floor of his school building, and suffered a fracture to his hands.

This forced him out of the classroom, and his dreams of becoming a designer and an artist appear to be slipping away by the day.

For two years now, Jeremiah has been out of school and confined to his home due to health issues.

All he finds solace in is his artistic skills.

This is his way of drowning his sorrows being out of the classroom after his siblings have left for school and her mother who is now a single-parent leaves the house to hustle for the family.

All efforts by his mother to send him back to school have proven futile, leaving her in a state of despair.

Jeremiah desperately wants to go back to school because he believes the classroom is the surest way to achieve his dream.

"Actually, I want to be a car brander and an artist, a big one at that. I’m actually not going to school, because of that I am seeing my dream slipping out of my hands. I want to go back to school, and actually finish my studies. I will do everything to achieve my dream.

"I want to achieve my dream to show people with my condition. I want to show them that people like me can take (up) any challenge and they will make it their own. I want to show them that, they can carry their dream and say that they can do it. They will not watch back and say I’m doing a mistake,’ he stated. 

Persons with disabilities in Ghana continue to lag in education. The 2010 Population and Housing Census found that 20% of children with physical disabilities do not attend school.

This menace continues to be on the rise even today. In 2006, Ghana passed the Disability Law, Act 715, which aimed at ending the discrimination against people with disabilities, a 10-year moratorium given by the Act for old buildings to be renovated to disability-friendly status has undoubtedly not been met.

Like CDEPP, every stakeholder has a role to play in making the world a better place for persons living with disability.

Providing support and resources that significantly makes a difference in the lives of the vulnerable can help create a more inclusive society.

Jeremiah’s prayer is to live a normal life and at the very least put his God-giving talent to improving society.