Ms. Monica Siaw, Agona West Municipal Officer of the Department of Social Welfare, has appealed to the government to assist in the training of sign language teachers to serve as interpreters at health facilities, courts, churches and other public places for hearing impaired persons. She said these persons who were people with Disability found it difficult to tell their stories at such functions, especially at hospitals any time their children fell sick. Ms. Siaw said this had become a serious disadvantage because nobody could speak for them when they had the right, adding that, there was the need for sign language teachers at Television Stations, especially during newscasts and other programmes to interpret for the unfortunate persons. The Social Welfare Officer said, these when she addressed members of the Deaf and Dumb Association in the Agona East District and the Agona West Municipal at a two-day workshop on human rights and HIV/AIDS at Agona Swedru. The workshop was organized and financed by the Agona West Municipal Assembly to enlighten members of the Association on their rights and responsibilities. She noted that, the Disability Law passed by Parliament two years ago, should create a platform to redress problems facing disabled persons to help them to improve their life styles and to get assistance from the government and other agencies. Ms. Siaw noted that, the deaf and dumb could not gain admission to secondary and technical schools as a result of their handicap, adding that, some of them were brilliant enough to pursue higher education, but could not because they had been deprived. Mr. Serdrick Sackey, Agona West Municipal Director of the Commission on Human Right and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), expressed concern about the prejudice and discrimination against disabled persons in the society. He said, many workplaces and other public facilities were not accessible to disabled persons and said employers often failed to understand that physical disability was not mental impairment. Mr. Sackey noted that unemployment was one of the main problems of the disabled and said the International Labour Organization (ILO) had identified that, unemployment among disabled persons was two to three times higher than other persons. Source: GNA