The Role of St. Theresa Centre for Physically Challenged
The saying that “disability is not inability” is always manifested when some persons with physical disability yearly graduate from St. Theresa Vocational Training Centre for the physically challenged at Abor in the Keta-Akatsi Diocese.
It is always a joy when people have the experience in the field of the physically challenged which leads to a new apostolate in the world of the vulnerable.
Disabilities have been defined in many ways. In general, disabilities are characteristics of the body, mind, or senses that affect a person’s ability to engage independently in some or all aspects of daily living.
Different kinds of disabilities affect people in different ways yet, the same kind of disability can affect each person differently. While all disabilities are as different as the individuals who experience them, the challenges and opportunities for persons with disabilities are often similar.
Disability is not “inability” or “sickness”
People living with disabilities can be as healthy as those without them. People with disabilities can work, play, learn and enjoy full healthy lives in their communities.
During the 25th and 40th anniversaries respectively of St. Theresa Vocational Training Centre and St. Agnes Vocational Training School in 2015, speakers repeatedly drummed into the ears of the physically challenged that disability is not inability and asked them to show to the world they were able because they had been empowered.
The two Institutes are run by the Congregation of the Servants of Charity (Guanellians), a Catholic Religious Congregation founded by St. Louis Guanella, whose passion for the poor and the less privileged resulted in the birth of the Congregation.
The members of this Congregation; Priest, Rev. Brothers and lay people are popularly known and addressed as the Guanellians, a name they had after their Founder. They do generally charity oriented work, that is centred on rehabilitating the mentally and physically challenged and the caring for elderly persons and the less privileged in the society.
