By Napoleon Ato Kittoe
We probably may not remember the last time a person with no sight was caught red-handed in pretense. It was acted by the Osofo Dadzie drama group to alert the Ghanaian public of fraudulent acts.
The particular television drama episode was performed hilariously with a character called “Super OD” fastened to the theme.
He indulged alms begging by fooling the public that he was blind. One day, when he had opened his eyes to count the money he had made in the day, he was “caught” by a regular passer-by who raised an alarm and the culprit took to his heels. This act took place between the late 1970s and mid-1980s.
However, blindness is a reality and in euphemism, it is referred to as “visual impairment.” Some are born with the dreadful condition, others suffer vision loss due to accidents, and medical complications.
In such a condition, the victims rely on others for all their movements which bear negatively on the Good Samaritan.
To assist the visually impaired, the braille learning system was introduced to them, particularly for those interested in the acquisition of skills from academics theory.
The most worrying aspect of the lives of such ill-fated people is this. Many are roaming the streets of Ghana without the white cane. The white cane is calibrated to sense the environment, and this enables the visually-impaired to move around unaided.
As they resort to all kinds of strategies to attract attention, and sympathy, the question that comes to mind is, are the visually-impaired being abandoned to their fate to walk around with minors to beg for alms, without the white cane?
The blind are finding their way to town but those with their sights intact appear not bothered about their plight. They don’t realize the blind are in their midst at all, yet they are ever-present.
