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Mr Charles Nyante, Programme Co-ordinator of Voice Ghana, an advocate group for the disabled, has urged planners in the country to give recognition to the rights of the disabled in all development plans.

He explained that when that is done, both the abled and the disabled, will be taken care of, and the country will not need to set up special funds to take care of the interest of the disabled in  society.

Mr Nyante was speaking at a day's workshop for Municipal and District Planning Officers in the Eastern Region in Koforidua, to sensitize them for inclusion of the rights of the disabled in all their development plans for the district assemblies.

The workshop, specifically sought to motivate the planning officers for the implementation of Article 28 of the United Nations Convention of the Rights of the Disabled, which had been ratified by the Parliament of Ghana, in all their development plans in the districts in the region.

The Article calls on state institutions to ensure that the disabled and their families enjoy adequate standards of living, including adequate food, clothing and housing.

Mr Nyante observed that society should not wait until an influencial person in the society becomes disbled before  starting to think of how to provide for such persons.

He said the country needs to make determined efforts, to ensure that the necessary facilities for relative good standards of living exist for all the disabled in society, irrespective of their social status.

Mr Max Vardon, former Executive Secretary of the National Council for People with Disabilities(NCPD), explained that adequate provision for the disabled can help reduce the dependence situation in which the disabled always find themselves.

Mr Vardon called for improvement of data collection on the disabled, to aid planning in the country.

The two-year project is being funded by the Disability Rights Fund of USA, and is being implemented jointly by Voice Ghana, Ghana Anti-Corruption Coalition, and the Local Government Network.