The students from the Department of Social Work, University of Ghana
Some students from the Department of Social Work, University of Ghana, have expressed interest in working with social groups, especially those working with cerebral palsy children.
The students, who are undertaking their concurrent field work at the With God Cerebral Palsy Centre, an inclusive centre for children with cerebral palsy, said, “We are ready to learn, reach out and adapt to the needs of children with cerebral palsy.”
Emelia Abugzio, group leader of the Social Work students, said they usually group all children with special needs as children with intellectual difficulties so their 13 weeks at the centre will enable them to ascertain for themselves whether children with cerebral palsy can be classified as such.
Hannah Awadzi, Executive Director of the Special Mothers Project, an advocacy and awareness creation programme of cerebral palsy, explained to them that most children with cerebral palsy have their cognitive part intact and cannot be classified intellectually disabled.
She said, “We cannot exclude children with cerebral palsy from children who have no special needs, most children with cerebral palsy only have movement challenges and by seeing other children move; they are usually challenged to move.”
Mrs Awadzi called on the government to facilitate the creation of more of such centres in the country to enable parents of children with cerebral palsy to have a place to take their children to during working hours to enable them to work.
“Most parents, especially mothers of children with cerebral palsy, are unable to work or forced out of jobs due to their children’s disability,” she explained.
Mrs Awadzi said most day care centres refuse children with cerebral palsy admission because they are unable to walk, talk and are usually not toilet-trained.
She called on government to come up with pragmatic measures to help families raise children with cerebral palsy, saying, “No child should be left behind.”
Affam-Dadzie, head of With God Cerebral Palsy Centre and a mother of a seven-year-old girl with cerebral palsy, called for government’s support.
She said, “We need special educators to be attached to this centre, we need volunteers, social workers, therapists to support the work of the centre.”
The centre currently does not generate any income, and parents who take their children during working hours do so free-of-charge.