The Chairman of the blind in Waterloo, Salieu Turay has said that they are homeless, discriminated against and treated unequally by the rest of society.
He made this statement when he spoke to Premier News on Monday October 5, 2020. According to him, they face a desperate need of being sheltered and eased of the pains they bear when sleeping rough in the street. He added that providing shelter will also reduce the number of homeless blind people on the streets.
According to Turay, they have been begging and sleeping on the streets for a very long time because they lack shelter. He added that due to exposure to the elements of the climate they are afflicted by ailments like cold and other serious diseases during their stay at night in the street.
“The number of the blind sleeping in the street increases every day. Majority of us sleep in the street. We fall sick with Cold, Malaria and some other ailments, but no one cares about us,” he insisted.
The Chairman added that recently they were coned by a group of people who lured each of them to pay Le50,000 on the pretext of helping them to open an account, but since taking their monies up-to-date none of their so-called helpers has shown up.
“We sleep in the street because there is no option. We are asking the government to provide assistance for us the blind.”
Turay also said that they usually find it difficult to access hospitals, public transport, and other public areas.
He said whenever they approach public transport they would never be accommodated, “instead the operators would drive us away forcefully”.
According to Turay, many blind people have experienced discrimination and neglect and, “our rights are not equal to people with ability”.
“I have never heard from any disabled that they are treated equally as the able people. All that we are experiencing is discrimination and neglect. We are never accepted but we are also human beings,” he concluded.
By Ibrahim S. Bangura
8/09/2020. ISSUE NO: 7926