Vulnerables

Persons with Disabilities (Pwds)

The Bolgatanga Municipal Assembly has its own share of persons with disabilities (PWDs). A lot of information on PWDs in the municipality has been unearthed through the Survey on Disability in Upper East Region (SUNEPED) conducted by the Navrongo Health Research Centre for the Department of Social Welfare in 1998.

The most common forms of disability in the municipality are as follows:

• Difficulty in moving (i.e. cripples)
• Difficulty in seeing (the Blind)
• Difficulty in hearing/speaking (Deaf/Dumb)
• Difficulty in learning (The mentally retarded)
• Fits Strange behaviour (mad people and people with psychiatric problems)

Facilities for Persons with Disability

Social facilities for persons with disabilities (PWDs) in the municipality are very few.  There is a Rehabilitation Centre at Daporetindongo, Bolgatanga.  On the economic front, the disabled themselves with the assistance from the British Government and the Municipal Assembly have been able to put up a workshop for the mending of shoes and dressmaking. An agro-processing complex built with the assistance of a non-governmental organization is also in operation at Tanzui/Sorbisi on the Bolga – Shirigu road. This facility is run by the PWDs themselves.

Welfare Indicators

Substantial differences exist in terms of welfare indicators between persons with disabilities and persons without disabilities in the Municipality. For example while the percentage of persons without disabilities who have had some sort of education is 53%; the rate for PWDs is only 31.1%.  Again only 77.9% of PWDs are engaged in economic activities compared to 98.6% for their “normal” compatriots