Tamale, April 19, GNA - Parents and communities have been warned that it is against the law to kill or abandon children born with disabilities in the bush.

Mr. Jeduah Mahama Abudu, a legal practitioner and social worker, gave the warning at a forum in Tamale on Thursday to educate persons with disabilities and the public on the Disability Act (Act 715). He said it had been observed that because of the social stigma attached with children born deformed some parents and communities labelled such children as "demon possessed" and either kill them or throw them into the forest with the belief that they would "vanish". The Centre for Democratic Development (CDD) and the Ghana Federation of the Disabled (GFD) jointly organised the forum with sponsorship from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

Mr. Abudu called on the physically challenged and the public at large to report to the law enforcement agencies, parents who would abandon or kill their disabled children.

He also called on traditional rulers to modify some of the traditional customs, which were discriminatory towards the disabled, noting that in some traditional areas the disabled were not allowed to visit the chief's palace.

He said although the Disability Act had made provisions for the right to work, the right to easy access to offices and places of convenience and against the exploitation of people with disabilities, the disabled themselves had to fight for these rights. The legal practitioner urged the disabled to desist from using their condition or that of their children to beg for alms, saying apart from being an offence, the practice also made society to look down upon them.

Mr. Abdul Wahab Musah, Programme Officer of CDD-Ghana, said Act 715 would ensure the creation of Peoples with Disabilities (PWDs) desks at the various employment centres.

The Act also provides for the formation of a National Council on Persons with Disabilities (NCPWD), which would see to the implementation of the Disability Act.

Mr. Musah said the organisation of such forums, among others things, would strengthen disability organisations and facilitate equal opportunity for persons with disabilities to participate fully in the decision making process. Abridged copies of the Disability Act 715 were distributed to participants at the forum.