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Accra's Awaawaa2 shows disabilities are not a 'dead end situation'

In a quiet corner of Accra, children with communication difficulties are being taught how to communicate in a colourful, calm centre focused on lifting the stigma of disabilities in Ghana.

 

AwaaWaa2, in Greater Accra, is a centre for children with communication difficulties.

It is set up as a charity and works to assess and support children with speech and language difficulties, as well as their parents.

Mary Amoah, the centre coordinator tells pulse.com.gh the centre believes in early intervention, the school has many young children it is helping to develop and teach.

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She has been with the centre for the past nine years, she helps to train the teachers, facilitators and support workers.

Run as a charity, which also advocates on the behalf of children with disabilities or difficulties, Awaawaa2 was set up by Nana Akua Owusu.

The centre aims to help children be included by society, by trying to stop discrimination against those with communication difficulties.

The centre has children with autism, Down Syndrome, cerebral palsy and hearing impairments among others.

The centre is focused on small classes with one-on-one time, some of the children can not speak, sit still or play, but the centre works to teach them the basics, like taking turns, different forms of communicate and even how to play.

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Across the brightly painted classes, children will learn skills based on their needs, it may be turn-taking in one room, or doing shopping role play in another.

Pictures done by the children line the walls, there's a table with a hole in the middle to place buckets for sensory activities (like playing with grains) and outside is a playground for them.

Mary's own daughter Renata, 13, spends time at the centre.

She has autism, which is a complex disorder based on brain development. There are varying degrees of autism, it can include difficulties in communication and social interaction, difficulties in motor coordination and attention.

The most obvious signs of it appear between the age of 2 and 3, which is about when Mary found something was wrong with her daughter.

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She noticed Renata lost the few words she had developed.

Renata was not able to hold eye-contact, would want to play by herself and started running in circles.

“I started to worry. As a Ghanaian mother my first approach was to go to the prayer centres and look for spiritual help because I think at the time there wasn't so much noise like now when people talk more freely about it.”

But the teacher of 13 years eventually educated herself on what was wrong, after a friend from the USA suggested the diagnosis.

“I was in denial for so, so long, until I finally said 'no something needs to be done'.”

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It has taken years and huge effort to get Renata to where she is now: calm, and communicating basic requests. She sleeps well and interacts with her family and friends.

That effort includes readjusting her diet, teaching her to play and take turns, and even holding eye-contact.

Mary and the centre advocate to bring parents together to “encourage them and let them know as difficult as our journeys may be, it's not a dead end situation”.

They also advocate inclusive education, those that can go to mainstream schools do, with the assistance of a facilitator who the centre trains.

“We believe that as the children are given the opportunity to grow with the 'regular kids' the regular kids will grow up and learn about the child with disability. I am sure that some day when they have the opportunity to be in government office and taking decisions, because they have grown up with some of them, they will have that experience for life. I think that will really help.”

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Mary wants to see the government take more action to support children like Renata – there should be an emphasis on special needs education and support, she says.

“Ghana with the population of 26 million has only five speech and language therapists,” she says, adding that those therapists are for people who suffer stroke and other disabilities as well, so they are stretched.

Special needs facilitator and teacher, Emmanuel Ntow Nyowko also believes his is an important field, helping parents to accept and support their children.

“I think it's coming up now. Previously parents really didn't know what to do, they would keep their children at home and now the intervention is there, when they go to hospital they give the diagnosis there are a lot of centres coming up so now people are bringing their children out. They are getting the needed support.”

Nyowko's job sees him play with the children which brings out a learning process.

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“Children grow and discover themselves more when they are playing,” he says.

“This kind of work is important to me because it helps me to support a lot more parents and also for me I am energetic and it helped me to discover myself, accepting all these children gives me back joy, I love doing that.”

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