Stand up and be counted! If you can.

The Ghana 2010 Population and Housing Census is underway and I have been counted!

The enumerator that came to our household was on time, professional and efficient. The interview lasted all of 20 minutes.

It is official, the Head of my household is my husband. Yes, I spend more time at home and the day-to-day running of the house is all on me; but according to the Census HE is the head and I am...well I can be whatever I want to be as long as it is not the Head. I was curious as to what title he would have been delegated had he been a stay-at-home dad...or is the Head defined strictly along gender lines?
The interview was going on well enough until he came to the section of noting people with disabilities in the household.
"Ok, now 'Defects' - is there anybody here who is...uh..."
I was quick to look through his questionnaire and let him know that there were no 'disabled' people in the household - saving what could potentially have been a very embarrassing scenario.
Perhaps a tad of sensitivity training may have been required for this particular enumerator.

This followed a conversation I had had with someone who had told me that a friend of hers, who is in a wheelchair, was visiting and her one concern was that there was not much consideration for people with disabilities at most public places in Accra. This is quite true and for many places, tourist and otherwise. This made me wonder whether people with disabilities are afforded the same considerations in Ghanaian society as those without. Certainly the main supermarkets in Accra do have wheelchair ramps, and much kudos to them for that,  but I have made a few trips to the Traffic Department, a couple of Police Stations (don't ask - long story) and The Tax & Revenue Office and they most definitely did not have ramps at their entrances. I wonder what then will be the ultimate use of the 'disabilities' section in the Census questionnaire.

Barring the issue of 'Disabilites' in the Census, Ghana should come out of this Census relatively unscathed...unlike Kenya which recently completed a  Census which was marred with controversy over questions of ethnic groups and feelings that they had a potential to incite discrimination and ethnic violence. Coming out of the 2008 post election ethnic violence, these concerns are understandable.
India similarly found itself regressing on issues that it would rather forget when the question of caste reared its ugly head again in their Census.
Putting aside all sensitivities around disabilities, ethnic groups, caste etc. I do feel for all Statistics Bureaus around the world because, they are in effect doomed if they do and doomed if they don't when they try and make their censuses as inclusive as possible.
I have definitely been counted in Ghana- as an Obroni no less- but that's besides the point. I will wait and see what issues raise their head for South Africans next year when the Rainbow Nation goes for inclusivity in its census.