The world needs to focus on the “capabilities and abilities” of people with disabilities and “not just the disability.”

That is the clear message coming from Mawunyo Yakor-Dagbah, Vice-President of the Ghana Federation of Disability Organisations. 

Both she and her twin sister, together with another sibling, were born with albinism: a condition that results from a lack of melanin, producing lighter than normal skin and hair.

Having battled prejudice and misconceptions about albinism at home, she credits her parents for ignoring societal pressure to place their children in foster care.

Ms Yakor-Dagbah was recently at United Nations Headquarters participating in the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW62).  

She spoke with Assumpta Massoi about CSW, and the benefits of internship opportunities for people with disabilities in Ghana, and began by talking about her own name, Mahwunyo, which means “God is Great.”