REYO Foundation, an NGO which deals with and supports people with autism and special needs, has put on a two-day show for these special people in our society.
The show took place on Friday, April 28 at the University of Ghana Medical Centre (UGMC) and Saturday, April 29 at the AH Hotel near East Legon.
The show brought health professionals, teachers, schools, and experts from Europe together to interact and share experiences on how to deal with autism and other special needs.
In an interview with Nation 1 TV, the Director of REYO Foundation and the organiser of the Autism and SEN Show Ghana, Hannah Otoo, said the show has been organised to create awareness and training among the major stakeholders in dealing with autism and other health conditions, especially health professionals.
According to her, the training will afford the health professionals the requisite knowledge on how to support patients with autism, their parents, and their families.
Touching on dealing with autism in Ghana, she said the country needs to implement a system. She said this can be done when the various stakeholders come together, as is done in other countries, especially the United Kingdom (UK).
Miss Hannah Otoo, who was overwhelmed by the attendance and the delivery by the speakers, also gave the assurance that her foundation is going to engage everyone who took part in the show. She said they will be going to the various regions for this engagement, which, according to her, will commence in no time.
At the same program, the Deputy Director of NHS England Autism and Learning Disability, Adanna Williams, one of the speakers for the show, was impressed to be part of this program.
She expressed her optimism that programs of this nature will help to increase awareness and attract the attention of governments at both the local and national levels. This, according to her, will encourage them to build and support this important area of our healthcare system.
Miss Whitney Hammel Anny, who is the Executive Director and Co-founder of Autism Compassion Africa (ACA), believes that this programme will have a lot of impact on the African continent and Ghana in particular. She said the Autism and SEN show, which brought together health professionals, students, and parents, will give people strategies to deal with people with autism, especially in our homes.
She added that the show had had a significant impact on her through her interactions with the participants and other speakers.
For her part, the founder of the Africa Dyslexia Organisation, Rosalin A. Kyere-Narty, said parents and teachers should desist from stigmatising students who have difficulties learning.
She believes the messages from speakers should aid teachers and parents in varying their methods of teaching. She advised teachers to use language of instruction for these students to comprehend easily.