Rising above the cerebral palsy stigma – Nii Anyetei’s story

Nii Anyetei

He was diagnosed with jaundice at birth which later developed into cerebral palsy, but that did not stop him from finding success despite the challenges he encountered growing up.

Cerebral palsy is a group of disorders that affect a person’s ability to move and maintain balance and posture. It is most com­mon motor disability in childhood.

Born in 1990, 33-year-old Nii Anyetei Akogyeram was a victim of stigmatisation from friends and mates at school with some calling him with names like ‘saliva boy’, ‘snake worms’ and other weird names which often provoked him.

With the help of the late Dr W.Y Anoff, who nick­named him Professor and helped him with his speech therapy, Nii Anyetei re­fused to let his disability affect his education and career.

He currently holds a Diploma in Software En­gineering from IPMC and now works with KFC, North Industrial Area branch as a Surveillance Officer.

Speaking to The Specta­tor on Monday, Nii Anyetei said, he did not attend a special school based on the advice of his doctor. He had his nursery and kindergarten education at Super Day school in Cantonment and was one of the best pupils in the school.

After completing his nursery and kindergarten education, his parents en­rolled him in Mother Care school at East Cantonment close to the Airforce Offi­cer’s Mess where he had his primary education.

“At my primary school I had enough love and care from my teachers and classmates even though other children in the school were scared of me because of my condition,” he said.

He later left Moth­er Care in class six and continued at the Air Force Basic School in Burma Camp where “I had much fun,” and was appointed a general overseer of the school. He said when writ­ing the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) in 2006, the school had to request for extra time so he could finish all his papers due to his condition.

He wrote the papers and passed with flying colours. He attended Armed Forc­es Senior High School and offered General Arts. “I failed my papers three years later and had to stay home for four years,” he said. His father later took him to M&J computer institute in Labone in 2012 where he became the best stu­dent in class and later assisted the lecturer in teaching other students

He passed his final paper and started working at Kenthouse Security Com­pany as a controller and was later moved to admin­istration. In 2015, he enrolled at IPMC where he later obtained a Professional Diploma in Software Engi­neering and Programming but could not cope with both work and school so he resigned from work.

Nii Anyetei said he loves sports and adventure, so at his leisure time he either plays football or basketball, swims as well as go for camping. He is a Christian and a member of the Prince Emmanuel Seventh Day Adventist (SDA) Church, at Ring Road.

He said in order to help curb the plastic menace, he and his friends make slippers and other products from plastics. “I am also an advocate for cere­bral palsy because people with the condition are stig­matised, so I came up with a cam­paign to reduce it, or possibly end stigmatisation in the world,” he said.

Nii Anyetei is the founder of Cerebral Palsy Awareness Ghana, an organ­isation which seeks to cre­ate awareness, educate and help reduce stigma­tisation of the condition.

“I want to help people with dis­ability especially cerebral palsy, this is my burning de­sire,” he added. Touching on the country’s educa­tional system with regards to inclusivity, he described it as very poor when it comes to persons with disability.

He explained that some head teachers refused to register chil­dren with disability for the BECE saying the only option for parents was to register their wards pri­vately.

Nii Anyetei said, peo­ple with disability need­ed assistive devices for their education as most of them did not have good handwriting which affect­ed them negatively in the examination.

“Due to my bad hand­writing, I was not able to pass my examination, because the examiners could not see what I had written,” he revealed.

He, therefore, urges the government and the Ghana Education Service to pro­vide persons with disability with assistive devices.

“It is needed, it’s going to be very useful because we can’t use our hands to write well,” he stressed. Nii Anyetei dreams of having a family of his own in the near future.

By Jemima Esinam Kuatsinu