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COMMUNITY NEEDS

Disability
Introduction

Persons with disabilities (PWDs) have been defined as those who are unable to or are restricted in the performance of specific tasks/activities due to loss of function of some part of the body as a result of impairment or malformation (Ghana Statistical Service, 2012). A person is considered disabled if despite the use of assistive device or supportive device such as (eye glasses and hearing aids) the limitations or restrictions cannot be improved.

Persons with disabilities face a wide range of life challenges because disability, in whatever form or type, can reduce an individual’s ability to function to his/her full potential. Disability can limit an individual’s full participation in a number of activities in life. Estimates from the World Health Organization (WHO) provide that there are more than 600 million PWDs in the world, of which approximately 80 percent live in low-income countries (Ayiku, 2012).

In Ghana, PWDs in general are marginalized and suffer from discrimination on account of their disability status. They are mostly regarded as less productive and not capable of contributing to development compared to their non-disabled counterparts. Accordingly, they are often seen as a burden on society and their unfortunate circumstances are viewed sometimes as a curse or punishment. Furthermore, they have poorer health status, lower educational achievements, less economic participation and higher levels of poverty than people without disabilities (World Health Organization, 2011).

Population with disability

Table 6.1 presents the population of the Sekyere Central District by type of locality, disability status and sex. The results of the 2010 PHC show that there are 2,572 PWDs in the District, representing 3.6 percent of the total population. The proportions of male and female PWDs are 3.3 percent and 3.9 percent respectively. PWDs are slightly higher among females than males in both rural and urban areas.

Types of Disability

Figure 6.1 indicates the various types of disability found in the District which include sight, physical, hearing, speech, intellectual and emotional. Analysis of the chart indicates that sight is the commonest form of disability (49.1%) in the District followed by physical (26.9%) and hearing disability (15.4%). Intellectual disability is the least among the types of disability representing 9.6 percent.

PWDs by Type of Locality

Analysis of PWDs by type of locality of residence indicates that, a slight majority which is not different from the District figure reside in rural areas (3.6%) compared to 3.5 percent in urban areas (Table 6.1). In terms of sex in urban localities, female PWDs have slightly higher proportion (3.8%) than males (3.3%) in the District. Similarly, in rural localities female PWDs form a moderately higher proportion (3.9%) than males (3.4%).

Disability and Economic Activity Status

Table 6.2 shows PWDs 15 years and older by economic activity status and sex in the District. The District has a total of 2,216 PWDs, out of which 55.5 percent of them are employed and almost one in ten (1.2%) are unemployed. The remaining, 44.1 percent are economically not active. The highest form of disability, sight (58.6%) has majority of its population being employed. With the exception of speech, physical, intellectual and emotional PWDs, at least fifty percent of all persons with different forms of disability are employed in the District.

Male and female differentials are quite significant among all the activities. The Table further reveals that, for all the various forms of disability, there are more male PWDs who are employed than their female counterparts.

Disability and Education

With reference to the data in Table 6.3, there are 2,518 PWDs aged 3 years and older in the District. From this number, 47.5 percent have never attended school. Among the PWDs, the highest educational level attained is Basic School defined to include Primary, Middle/JSS/JHS and it accounts for 42.5 percent of all PWDs in the District. The lowest proportion in the educational level attained by PWDs in the District is Pre-school defined to include Kindergarten and Nursery which accounts for 3.5 percent. Among the various types of disability, persons with hearing and speech disability recorded 56.5 percent each being the highest proportions who have never attended school.

Persons with sight disability recorded the highest proportion of 41.3 percent of all PWDs who attained Basic education whilst persons with emotional disability are more likely to attain Senior High/Higher level of education (8.0%) than persons with other forms of disability. Among the male PWDs in the District, 38.7 percent have never attended school whilst females on the other hand are 54.9 percent. A slightly higher proportion of males (47.3%) than females (38.3%) of all PWDs in the District attained Basic level of education compared to 9.3 percent of males and 4.2 percent of females who attained Senior High or Higher education (Table 6.3). More males with sight disability are more likely to attain Basic education than females (48.2 percent and 35.5 percent respectively). In a similar vein, far more males with physical disability are more likely to attain Senior High/Higher level of education than females (8.2%).