Central Province Organising Committee Chairperson for International Day of Persons with Disabilities, Godfrey Mulenga, has called on the government to support programmes aimed at empowering differently-abled persons in the province.
In a statement made available to Lusaka Star, Mr Mulenga said most disabled people are vulnerable in communities because they have been neglected.
“Some families and the communities at large in the country have not accepted differently impaired people,” said Mr Mulenga.
He observed that this group of people are discriminated upon and cannot even be trusted to do simple house chores.
Mr Mulenga noted that such behaviour in society has made persons with disabilities think they cannot do anything for themselves to survive.
The Organising Committee Chairperson said that this negligence has sent most of disabled persons on the streets to beg for survival.
Mr Mulenga has, however, argued that in every disability there is an ability that could be exploited to achieve greater heights in persons living with disabilities.
He has called on families and communities in the province and many Zambians to accept differently-abled people to foster self-belief in them to face the future.
Mr Mulenga noted that this will stir confidence in them and live a normal life devoid of begging and hand-outs from anyone in their various localities.