Accra, Sept. 27, GNA – The public has been urged to treat the physically challenged with dignity.
This is because becoming physically challenged is not a choice, Mr. Paul Anomakodie, award winning visually impaired journalist, said when he received the Extra Ordinary Disability Achiever in Journalism Award at the Second Edition of the Ghana Disability Excellence Awards held last night in Accra.
He said being disabled placed a person in a position that required a lot more resolve to get ahead in life, and urged people with no physical disability to treat the physically challenged as they would wish to be treated, if they were faced with similar challenges.
Mr Anomakodie charged the physically challenged to be bold and strive towards great achievements in life, in spite of their setbacks, saying
« My Journalism work is not complete until we find more visually impaired persons on our television screens ».
Mrs. Portia Gabor, Broadcast Journalist, TV3 Network Limited, received the Media and Advocacy Award for the physically challenged and said, the best contribution Journalists could make towards improving the plight of the disabled, was to tell their story to the rest of the world.
She said physically challenged persons had stories to tell to improve the circumstances of several others and must be given the opportunity and the voice.
Nana Boakye Ofori Atta, a Ghanaian high life musician, popularly known as Pozo Hayes, received the Life Time Achievement Award and expressed gratitude to all who had supported his musical career through the years.
« I’m where I am today because of your support, » he said.
Twelve other physically challenged persons received awards in other categories.
The awards event is an initiative of Friends of the Nation, Ghana, an NGO, in partnership with the Ghana Federation of Disability Organisations and the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection.
