When I heard we were going to Accra
Rehab, I had an image in my mind of the rehab gym at the hospital
where I did my first fieldwork observation. I imagined patients in
various states of recovery after accidents, relearning how to do
their ADLs (Activity of Daily Living) and how to move their bodies
again. This was incorrect. Accra Rehab is one component of the Ghana
Federation of the Disabled, which encompasses the Ghana Blind Union,
Ghana National Association of the Deaf, Ghana Society of the
Physically Disabled, and several other organizations.
Accra Rehab is a training facility that
admits students with disabilities and teaches them trades such as
carpentry, shoe making, craftwork, and information technology. Once
the students have studied their trades for six months, they are
released back into the care of their parents or caretakers and have a
skill that they can use to earn money. Unfortunately, they do not
admit people with disabilities who are homeless, which seems like a
big problem to me. The director said that it was because if they
admit the homeless, then the center will fill to capacity and they
will not have anyone moving on and therefore no space to offer new
students. In my opinion, the homeless with disabilities are the ones
who need an opportunity like this the most. And if they took a little
time to let them save some money so they could find a new place to
live after the program, that would solve the issue of not being able
to admit new students. However, I know that this type of program
would probably be more complicated and time consuming than what they
typically do, so perhaps it is something they could work on adding in
the future.
On one hand, from what I saw I think
that this organization is really benefiting the clients it serves. On
the other hand, I feel that it is doing a bit of a disservice by not
empowering them to aim higher. However, with limited resources and
infrastructure from the government to work with, it is doing the best
that it can. Also, currently they are only working with male clients,
and this leaves out what I assume is approximately half of the
population of people with disabilities. It's still a work in
progress, and they know that they have a large job ahead of them, but
the important thing is that work is being done, and that has to
happen for progress to be made.
Our lecturer tonight was Mrs. Faustina
Oware Gyekye, NRS and she spoke about the family structure and health
care system in Ghana. It was a very educational lecture, I felt that
I learned quite a bit of new information about the health care system
here. I wish we could have had a little more time to ask her about
the way that disabilities fit into the health care system, especially
since we were told that there are currently no OTs in Ghana. It seems
as though this country is pretty well established in its health care
system, but there are always room for improvements, no matter what
part of the world you are in.
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