The global landscape and demand for inclusion in every sphere is putting pressure on every profession to play its roles. Journalism, media play vital roles in serving as catalyst for development as well as a channel of change orientation. If the world must get it right, journalists, broadcasters need to be ahead of all in information sharing which will strengthen inclusion protocols.
It is very clear that if journalists, broadcasters remain in the dark concerning any area, the hope of society of excelling in that area is slim. Disability and inclusion reporting is a technical area that requires knowledge and strong ability of media practitioners to communicate and break down issues in this area will make a great difference especially in Africa where the orientation about persons with disabilities related to ‘god is punishing the individual or the parents who gave birth to one.
A session on partnership and collaboration led by Treasures Uchegbu
The approach of many to persons with disabilities had largely been influenced by charity or humanitarian outlook. The media industry has a major role in dispersing such stereotypes as well as traditional beliefs that are not empowering.
Given the above scenario, Africa Foundation for Young Media Professionals(AFYMP) in conjunction with Centre for Disability and Inclusion Africa continues to organize yearly fellowship on Disability and Inclusion Reporting fellowship which spans six months beginning with 2 day intensive workshop where experts are brought together to expose participants(broadcasters, journalists across Africa) to fundamental of such reporting. This is often followed by mentoring as well as story publishing to affirm authenticity of knowledge gain.
2024 Disability and inclusion reporting started with a call for applications to select about 16 journalists, broadcasters. The call for application attracted over 200 submissions. The two days’ workshop (organized in hybrid form) was held at University of Ibadan Hotels. While welcoming the participants who had expressed willingness to learn, engage with relevant information that can help them become effective; Yinka Olaito, Executive director of AFYMP charged participants to place a premium on every section of the training as every section means so much if they will gain enhanced knowledge.
T
A session on essential of data to Disability and Inclusion reporting led by Disability and inclusion Consultant , Dr Toyn
he two days had experts from the industry exposed the participants fundamental and etiquette of disability and inclusion reporting, urgency, importance of data, language use, partnership and collaboration building, from awareness to action, group presentation etc
Feedback from the seven in-persons’ participants indicated that the simplicity of the session through breakdown of technical knowledge made a lot of difference. Another participant expressed her appreciation by saying “I used to carry the erroneous belief that PWDs are cursed or inhuman but with this training I had come to understand PWDs are as humans as every other person on street and that their rights are human rights as well”,
“To be a disabled in Nigeria is to be undesirable, unwelcome and unaccepted. As I’ve said before, it is lonely, it is a lonely, scary and isolated place”- Debola Daniels, a PWD
“Being disabled often rolls over my spirit, leaving behind a trail of shattered dignity and forgotten humanity. Nowhere more so than in Nigeria.”- Debola Daniel
The experience of Debola Daniel, a mobility impaired person who uses wheelchair. on March 26, 2024 continues to characterised discriminations many persons with disabilities experience in Nigeria. This is so for especially many with no voice or connection. Debola Daniel happened to be a passenger at Murtala Muhammed Airport this day and while waiting for his flight, he and his family made the choice of going Kentucky Fried Chicken(KFC) within the premise. But according to him, which he made a thread of on his X(twitter) account, a female manager of the service restaurant did not allow him in saying “No wheel chair allowed”.
From March 26, 2024, Debola Daniel had gained media front-page prominence, the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria(FAAN) had wielded the big stick by closing the fast food brand because such behaviour contravenes discrimination against person with disabilities law in Lagos state among others. On his part, the executive director of the centre, Yinka Olaito, had through his media appearances and campaign against such inhuman treatment of Debola Daniel, which is just a fraction of many voiceless and unknown persons with disabilities in Nigeria go through.
While on TVC news, Yinka Olaito said the inhumane treatment, discrimination against persons with disabilities is very pervasive and grossly under reported. According to him “The point is there are many Debola Daniels among PWDs in Nigeria that experienced such discrimination daily. The fundamental or root cause of this is ignorance of laws as well as charity, humanitarian approach to PWDs rights. This must stop”.
Noting that many stakeholders are guilty in this area not even the government and its agencies are left out. For instance, Yinka Olaito said Debola Daniel’s flight was delayed (this had become a regular occurrence with no penalty). Also that the elevator was not working made him look at the option of going to KFC.
Speaking on Wave FM Port Harcourt on the same issue, Yinka Olaito said “Government and its agencies must lead by example by making all its buildings accessible”.
Yinka Olaito concluded “Nigerians are good people with good interpersonal, cordial relationships with high sense of respect for their neighbours as well as a high regard for inclusiveness. Whatever had gone wrong must be corrected now”” He also called on the National Commission for Persons with Disabilities to scale up its work too in this area
Persons with disabilities in Ondo state affirmed the deceased former Governor, Rotimi Akeredolu did a lot to alleviate the challenges faced by different PWDs clusters when compared to previous governors, but the challenges and existing gaps are still obvious remain if the state must ensure global rights and aphorism ‘Equal rights. equal dignity’.
It is very clear gaps still exist in the state between persons with disabilities and those who are not. The gap also varies. For those in urban centres like Akure, many organizations, especially financial institutions are making efforts to ensure life is bearable for PWDs.
Abiodun Olusegun, chair Ondo JONAPWD chair
Thanks to constant engagement made by the Disability Board members in the state with leaders of this sector. Beyond this, in many cases, rights of PWDs are flagrantly being disobeyed out of ignorance or deliberate act of state actors as well as persons without disabilities especially in rural areas.
The above formed part of the conversations at Ondo state PWDs Stakeholders Policy dialogue organized by the Centre on Thursday February 8, 2024 in Akure Ondo state.
Princess Folasade Arise, Chair, Ondo State Disability Agency Board
The programme, organized in a panel session outlook had Princess Folasade Arise, Ondo State Chairperson, Disability Board, Abiodun Olusegun, Joint Association of Persons with Disability, Ondo State Chair, Busayo Ademeko, Women leader JONAPWD Ondo state and Sola Idowu, JONAPWD secretary-general. Ondo State chapter as panellists. The Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, Ekiti state Command PWD desk lead was also present to discuss gender-based violence facing women with disabilities and what the NSCDC is doing to combat this.
Many of the points emphasised at the meeting bothers on education, health, financial inclusion, democratic rights, PWD engagement and need to review existing disability law in the state so as to ensure all its protocols are followed.
Below are some of the issues raised
Below are some of the conversations
Key Recommendations
1-Promote stakeholder engagement to increase accessibility and opportunity for PWD. Few progresses made by the Ondo state Government in terms of employment however there are several other barriers.
2 Accessibility and assistive technology infrastructures should be improved: roads, bridges and ATM machines not accessible to PWD use.
3-Education-Special schools need urgent attention. Most of the schools lack special needs teachers and infrastructure. It is important that the Ondo state ministry of education be notified. Many textbooks are still in printing form hence many visually-impaired persons are still being left out
4-Health: Many persons with albinism continue to suffer skin cancer and are dying in droves because of their skin texture. Government can help improve production of skin care product that can help
5–Women with Disability of marriageable age suffer stigma and discrimination, increase public orientation and sensitization of the public about disability.
6- Need to strengthen synergy and teamwork among PWD community to accelerate progress in Ondo state
7-Establishment of multi stakeholder’s engagement and dialogue among stakeholders especially those that are hostile to the PWDs in Ondo state such as NUTRW, Health workers etc.
8-Self-awareness and leadership development: self-awareness and personal grooming literacy programs for girls and women with disability have become highly essential to improve many young women with disabilities self-esteem. This may reduce sexual exploitation and abuse.
9- Democracy and rights to vote: Rights to vote for albinos are being violated as BVAs machines being used by Independent National Electoral Commission(INEC) is not allowing this cluster to vote
10. Review or Amendment Ent of Disability law in the state: there is urgent need to review Disability law in Ondo state is outdated and is due for review.
It is no longer strange to hear, an empowered woman will build a nation. Conversely when a woman is left behind, a generation may suffer due to the fact that such a woman has strong ties over what becomes many that will pass through her. Lack of economic empowerment of women and by extension women with disabilities made them porous to all forms of abuses, mental health and self-image related issues.
If our society must ensure full integration (economic, political and other vital decision-making processes) of women with disabilities, the society must make sure they are adequately empowered to stand on their own as well as build their self-confidence and self-awareness. At the foundation of this is quality basic education which promotes self-sustenance among other factors.
To guarantee women with disabilities efficiency and effectiveness as well as full participation in political, public life and in decision making, there is a need for deliberate investment in them. Job market is becoming more competitive and dynamic with digital skills being one of the in demand skills.
“Without right skills, economic empowerment, manyNigeria women with disabilities suffer untold discrimination, abuses. We need empowerment”- Ogunkuade, , an hearing-impaired woman and leader of Women with Disabilities group
Having a form of disability should therefore not be a reason to be left behind as assistive technology can help enhance their values. When a woman, especially one with disabilities is not empowered, the defects show in their motherhood, parenting, economic power which always tend towards penury and poverty.
Women with disabilities need to have the same chances as their non-impaired peers in order to avoid discrimination. When this is not guaranteed Women with disabilities especially are exposed to lack of protection, sexual violence and all forms of abuses. Ignorance of what their rights are, are often costly at the end
In our discussion and working with groups of women, girls with disabilities, it has been made clear by all that lack of right skills, economic empowerment and guidance are the foundations behind why women with disabilities suffer prejudices, cultural, traditional, religious stereotypes and other customs that aggravate gender abuses and strengthening of norms with regard to the gender inequality practices within or outside constitutional law.
Ogunkuade, Women leader of Joint Association of Persons with Disabilities in Ekitii state broke down when having a conversation with us on how they lack entrepreneurship skills, or where the above is available, lack of economic empowerment to purchase basic vocational tools that will make average Women with disabilities self-sustainable. In terms of self-esteem, many women with disabilities had fallen into dubious men who only use and dump them, so say another women leader of JONAPWD that we work with.
To address these CDIA offer some of followings to Women, girls with disabilities groups”
– Entrepreneurship development classes
– Product and marketing development for WWD entrepreneurs
– Job search and preparedness for undergraduate persons with disabilities
– Self- awareness and leadership development session
– Basic relationship skills and protocols that can bridge gaps amidst different sexual-orientation
– Emotional intelligence
To support this, we call on every organization passionate about empowered, sustainable society to help us push these projects from Nigeria to across Africa
Women with disabilities suffer more trouble than their male counterparts. It is easier for a male with disability to be quickly employed than women with disabilities. Women with disabilities’ health are often not prioritised unlike other women without disabilities. These are facts and figures in Nigeria. But beyond all these daily challenges, abuses suffered by women with disabilities are grossly untold. There are constant sexual and gender violence not reported, this is especially common with speech, hearing and visually impaired women. Their assailants know they cannot see or shout for help.
The issue of financial exclusion is also rampant, it will take great and personal determination of a woman with disabilities to be co-opted into the financial system.
In terms of health, women with disabilities suffer more to get attention. For women with mobility issues, finding their ways to hospital and health care facilities can be a herculean task. Assessing health facilities again is a big issue and ability to communicate with medical personnel plus verbal assault women with disabilities receive from nurses are untold.
Centre for disability and Inclusion Africa recent Persons with Disabilities stakeholders’ policy dialogue which ran across the 6 states that made up the South West geo political zone of Nigeria with estimated 49 Million populations and about 4 million Persons with disabilities gave us first hand exposure to some of the challenges Persons with disabilities with special interest in what Women with Disabilities go through.
From Lagos to Osun, to Oyo, Ekiti and Ondo states, the cry is almost the same. Ishola Elizabeth, Women leader of Joint Association of Persons with Disabilities(JONAPWD) maintained that women with disabilities face many assaults which are results of lack of adequate infrastructure which propel people to carry married women with disabilities in some facilities, marital challenges of society discouraging men without disabilities from marry a woman with one, Hospital attendants and medical personnel ill-treating women with disabilities among others.
In Oyo state, Women leader of JONAPWD, Alabi success decried absence of adequate accessibility tools, devices which hinder effectiveness of persons with disabilities with particular emphasis on Women with disabilities. The situation was not different in Ekiti state where the Women leader of JONAPWD in the state, Mrs Ogunkuade actually broke down in tears with regards to abuses suffered by women with disabilities especially when it comes to marriage.
According to her “Women with disabilities are often taken advantage of when they need a man to marry. Often they fall in the hands of deceivers who often use and dump them or in many cases use their nude pictures to illegally take money from them”.
On employment issues, Ogunkuade and Ishola said, women with disabilities need economic empowerment support too, so they can become useful to society.
The case is not different in Ondo state where Busayo Ademeko, Women leader of JONAPWD affirmed challenges women with disabilities face in the area of marriage. Finding a spouse is often difficult, especially if a woman with disabilities prefers a man without disabilities. Aside from this, discriminations are rife in the treatment of women with disabilities with regards to finding employment, assessing health and medical care. The level of harassment and verbal assaults are unimaginable.
Fear of Women with Disabilities with regards to seeking Justice
But with regards to seeking legal redress for injustice, many security Agencies, especially Officers in charge of PWDs desks across the South West state from Osun to Ekiti and Ondo maintained, lack of willingness or boldness of women with disabilities to come forward and make reports are some of the reasons such injustice go unpunished.
ASC khadijat Bakare, Osun state Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps’ (NSCDC)PWDs desk officer affirmed in many cases, NSCDC had to go out of its way to seek redress for the injustice meted to women with disabilities when they hear of one but many of them would rather keep quiet.
In Ekiti DSC Adejuwon, who is the PWDs desk officer for NSCDC Ekiti maintained “Women with Disabilities need to come out and report abuses for security agencies to help”. According to her there are protocols of reporting abuses before Security Agencies are involved, if that is not followed, they will be incapacitated.
In Ondo, SC Femi Igbekele, NSCDC Ondo state PWDs Officer did say, “There may be challenges for some women with disabilities to get redress but these can be lessened if the victim steps out and report”. He cited a case of a speech impaired lady who was unjustly denied her rights because of her inability to share her side of the story. Femi Igbekele said he had to go and search for a sign language interpreter so as to get the woman’s side of the story and eventually she was released.
But more importantly, to actually forestall unnecessary harassment, Evangelist Olu Adegoke, former JONAPWD chairman in Oyo State, Mrs Folasade Arise, Disability Affairs board chairperson in Ondo State, Mrs Fatola, Executive Secretary, Ondo state Disability Affairs board, Mr Ibiyale, director in the Ministry of Women Affairs and Social inclusion Oyo state all believed there is need for women with disabilities to know their rights and demands for them.
In most cases, according to all of these individuals, many victims had accepted their rights without knowing they all have rights to protection from abuses. Also, there is one common factor why some women keep quiet, their abusers are often close persons or carers and the thoughts of not having them again if picked up by security agencies often make them become silent.
Discriminations against Persons with Disabilities Acts 2019, State Disability Bills and State Disability Boards
In 2019, the federal government under President Buhari signed into law Discrimination Against Persons with Disabilities Acts(DAPDA) which was passed into law by the National Assembly in 2018 and this followed with establishment of the National Commission for Persons with Disabilities. For most states who had passed Disability Bills, Lagos, Oyo, Ondo, Ekiti among many others, the situation is almost the same- low awareness about the law and its agencies.
Only Lagos seems to have an Agency that is known by majority even though some of its activities are still being questioned with regards to efficiency.
Oyo state passed disability bills in 2021 but the Agency activities are still in the infancy stage with no office structure. Ekiti state is not different as much. The conflicting nature of executive order that established the State disability board prior to Disability Bill promulgation had created a dichotomy that is not allowing effectiveness of the Agency.
It is also noted by concerned PWD stakeholders in Ekiti that Disability board members are just being selected and paid for doing nothing as they work part time. Yes, the state has a Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on Disability matters.
Persons with disabilities can also be the problem
Up until recently, Persons with disabilities in Lagos, this include Women with disabilities, had cried out against exclusion and lack of concern of the management of the state’s Disability Agency, Lagos Office of Disability Affairs led by Mr Dare, towards issues affecting PWDs in the state. It took intervention of concerned stakeholders and media outcry to get Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu to remove Dare and appoint his former Special Assistant on Disability, Adenike Oyetunde-Lawal in his stead.
Princess Folasade Arise, the Chair of Ondo State Disability Board in a conversation with NGNEWs once affirmed “Some Persons with disabilities can also be a clog in the wheel of progress for Persons with Disabilities especially Women With Disabilities”. This can be true in the light of the fact that Mr. Dare who used to head LASODA is also a person with disability
But for Princess Folasade Arise, her concerns go deeper than the likes of Mr Dare, in her words, as chair of the Disability Board in Ondo state, she had seen cases where a male person with disabilities, married to a woman with disabilities constantly abused their spouses. “How do we justify this?” Princess Arise asked?
Which way forward?
Looking at the loopholes established above with regards to why Women with Disabilities abuses continued, it is easy to mitigate some of the issues. Women with disabilities must seek knowledge about their rights as well as be empowered to stand up for these rights. Economic empowerment coupled with fundamental rights as well as self-awareness of who they are as humans will help.
The non-state actors in the PWDs community, which are the impaired, the affected and the concerned, must become active and collaborate. With this the community can put pressure on the state actor- policy makers and government to protect rights and privileges of women with disabilities in Nigeria
N.B The story, written by Yinka Olaito, was culled from www.nigeriagrassrootnews.com
While a disability bill is already enacted in the state with attendant setting up an Agency to oversee affairs of Disability matters in the state, public awareness and more especially PWDs community awareness is still very low. Majority of the public within the state are not aware the agency exists.
The agency operations in itself is still in its infancy stage trying to gather momentum. Just recently, the agency just set up its administrative office but administrative staff are yet to be fully employed and given the fact that the provision of at least 50% of staff must be persons with disabilities continue to be a challenge. More importantly, finance has been a major factor.
Officials at the event- L-R Comrade Lawal, Executive Assistant to the Governor’s rep, Mr Akinsewa, repr Mr Ajilo Femi, chair JONAPWD oyo state, Evang, Olu Kayode, Rep of Barr. Adekambi, Mrs Temitope Labai, Women leader , Oyo state JONAPWD, Mr Yusuf Olatunji, Mr Ibiyale, rep Commissioner for Women Affairs
Panellists at the event
Above and many other issues were the major concerns of Oyo state Persons with Disabilities(PWDs), Inclusion Communities at the recently held Oyo State PWDs, Inclusion Stakeholders Policy Dialogues, which is part of the project of the centre to gather views of southwest Nigeria Disabilities caucus. The event was held at University of Ibadan hotel on Friday 26th January, 2024.
The event with the theme: Nigeria Inclusive Society: Accessibility, Exclusion and Social relationships” among many others was convened to create an avenue for collaboration, conversation around PWDs rights and their active participation in the society.
The event, which is organized as a panel session, has Hon. Toyin Balogun, the Oyo state Commissioner for Women Affairs and Social Inclusion as chairperson as well as the following as panellists: Barr, kayode Adekambi, Director of Oyo state Board for Disability Affairs, Mr Ajilo Femi, Oyo state chair of Joint National Association of Persons with Disabilities(JONAPWD), Mrs Alabi Temitope Success, Women leader, JONAPWD, Oyo state as well as Mr Yusuf Olatunji, former secretary-general of JONAWPD while Hon. Femi Timothy, Executive Assistant to the Governor served as special guest at the occasion.
The commissioner, through her representative, Mr Ibiyale, who is the director of rehabilitation in the Ministry, shared her Ministry appreciation with the organization for such a laudable project, emphasized state government’s commitment to issue of PWDs especially to Women with Disabilities and itemised ongoing efforts of her Ministry and that of the state’s government to make life better for PWDs in the state.
The panellists, participants made significant contributions to the dialogue which cut across accessibility, exclusion, social relationship issues, need to promote awareness of existence of Disability agency’s activities; need for transparency and accountability of the agency, needs for collaborations among the stakeholders among other salient issues. Find some of these below:
Key Recommendations
There is need to train staff of the nascent Oyo state Disability Board to understand its vision, mission and the modus Operandi. The board has to be self-sustainable to play its role.
Working intimately with the media houses in Oyo State is important for correcting negative narratives, stereotypes and public awareness about disability.
Local Government Office holders in Oyo state needs capacity building to understand disability and Inclusion and not exclude PWD in governance.
PWDs need to speak up for themselves, be confrontational where necessary without being violent.
JONAPWD need to position itself as a watchdog to the Oyo state Government in ensuring the inclusion of PWD in Oyo State.
There is need for grassroots engagement, as JONAPWD need to be present and active in all local governments of Oyo state and the use of indigenous languages for awareness is important.
Engage key stakeholders in accessibility and mobility such as structural engineer and Nollywood, financial institutions to correct negative narrative and take on where necessary.
Role modelling and teamwork within the PWD community is important.
Nollywood need a lot of briefing and change orientation in the stereotypical portrayal of PWDs in Nigerian films, Movies
When we talk of disability, often it is not always about the impaired, as we may think, structures and environment can also be disabling. True, we must acknowledge that having an impairment can slow down human ability to do certain activities but if the environment, structures are configured in a way that makes life easy, the issue of disabilities becomes minimal.
The above and many more are some of the conclusion reached at Osun State Nigeria Persons with Disabilities (PWDs) Inclusion community Stakeholders Policy Dialogue organized by Centre for disability and Inclusion Africa as part of its efforts to create an avenue to discuss nad reaffirm the position of the 6 states that make up of Southwest geo political zone in Nigeria, which has about 49 Million (22% of Nigeria population).
Welcoming participants drawn from (non)state actors of PWDs community in the state which has: the impaired, the affected and the concerned as well as Policy makers, government officials and relevant agencies; the executive director, Yinka Olaito, emphasised a need to collaboratively work together as well as create an avenue which ensures rights and participation of PWDs are protected.
He further emphasised the purpose of the policy dialogue is for the community to develop common focus which can drive disability, inclusive government, sustainable society demands in the state.
According to Yinka Olaito “Wee live in an age when conversation is loud about not leaving anyone behind, we need to go beyond talk and put money, action where our talk is”.
The theme of the event is “Nigeria Inclusive Society: accessibility, exclusion and social relationships”. It is a panel session that has strategic actor in the PWDs community which include: Stephen Olufemi, Osun state chair, Joint Association of Persons with Disabilities(JONAOWD), Mrs Elizabeth Ishola, Osun State Women leader, JONAPWD, Jare Tiamiyu, the CEO of Insight media and Honourable Adewunmi Adeyemi Irekandu who is a member of Osun State House of Assembly and sponsor of disability bill in the state.
Hon. Adewunmi Adeyemi believes whoever has a right to vote should have a right to be given his/her fundamental human rights as well as the right to enjoy the benefits of democracy in any nation. The full day event was full of essential discussions and recommendation form relevant actors including security agencies among which are Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, Osun state PWDs desk lead- DSC Bakare Khadijah.
Key Recommendations
1 Osun State disability bill has almost gotten to the final reading through the efforts of JONAPWD, Disability civil societies in Osun State, the media and Osun State house of Assembly and to a large extent, it addresses the various barriers against PWDs in Osun state. The PWD community needs to start preparing for the implementation stage, so as to ensure smooth and quick implementation.
2. Media had played an important role in the progress of the bill. There should be more synergy between the media and the PWDs in Osun’s state to advocate and promote PWD issues in the Osun State. Media needs data to effectively cover disability issues in Osun state and the PWD community should make disability data for Osun available to media organisation for impactful coverage of PWD issues in Oyo State
3. There is a need for teamwork, equity and fairness within the various clusters of the PWD community.
4. There is a need to regular mobilization, awareness, advocacy engagement and capacity building even with the PWD communities in Osun State
5. The PWD community must reach the grassroots level and the Disability bill needs to be domesticated at the local government level as well. Policy Dialogue should also be replicated
6. Women with disabilities in Osun State suffer double vulnerability and gender based violence which go unreported. There is a need for capacity training on sexual and reproductive rights.
7. The PWD community is made up of the affected, impaired and the inclined, therefore interventions should cover all the parties.
8. The PWD in Osun State decided to have a strong social media presence and a contact person who attends enquiries at JONAPWD Office.
agos state has over 22 Million inhabitants which makes it the largest in Nigeria. At least the state has a minimum of 2 Million Persons with Disabilities which is also the highest in Nigeria. Given this strategic position in Southwest geopolitical zone of Nigeria, it is no wonder the organization began its southwest conversation about inclusion and disabilities policy matter from the state,
Lagos state disability laws, 2011 is one of the oldest too in the country as other states followed after Lagos had passed its own bill to ensure a smart and inclusive society. Despite all these, the appraisal of the state in the area of disability and inclusion had also raised some fundamental issues.
The theme of the conversation, where the organization wants to get the views of disability and inclusion communities across the states in the southwest region beginning from Lagos is: “Nigeria Inclusive Society: Accessibility, Exclusion and Social relationships”
some of the panellists
Mrs Adenike Oyetunde Lawal, GM, Lagos State office of Disability Affairs, A panellist
The conversation has four panellists which include; Dr Shehu Adebayo, the state Chairman of Joint Association of National Persons with Disability, The newly appointed general manager of Lagos state Office of Disability Affairs, Adenike Oyetunde-Lawal, The Executive Director of Down Syndrome Foundation of Nigeria, Mrs Rose Mordi, Ikosi-Isheri LCDA Chairperson- Princess Simbiat Dada as well as National Association of visually Impaired Lawyer-Barr. Abolarinwa Salami. While the chairperson of the Occasion was Hon. Mrs Cecilia Bada, Commissioner for Women Affairs and Poverty Alleviation represented by a director in the Ministry- Shyllon Olufunke.
Dr Shehu Representative
Discussions
Welcoming participants and Programme speakers to the event, Yinka Olaito, Executive Director of the CDIA emphasised the need for the community to see one another as an ally in progress.
The Chairperson in her speech commended the effort of the organization for pushing this kind of the agenda up at the beginning of the year. She reiterated The State Governor’s efforts led by Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu in ensuring an equitable society and that he listens a lot the the citizens of the state.
Commissioner of Women Affairs and Poverty Alleviation representative- Mrs Shyllon Olufunke
The deliberation raised a lot of vital issues as panellists, contributors and participants spoke extensively on the challenges of the community at large.
Below are some of the decisions and recommendations.
We must do more
cross sections of participants
Feedbacks
Objective: is to create an avenue for discussions that will promote the rights, participation and inclusion of PwDs in Lagos State as well as to ensure harmonious collaboration among stakeholders in the disability and Inclusion space and to engage with the public and private sector with one voice.
Key Recommendations
· Women and Girls with disabilities are the most vulnerable within the disability community. They suffer double discrimination, first as a result of their disability and due to their gender therefore, there is need for more data for disability inclusion especially for women and girls with disability to effectively promote, plan, monitor human right and sexual and reproductive rights.
· The PwD community needs to politely and nicely start correcting negative stereotypes, stigma and misrepresentation through advocacy and awareness programs. The use of ICT and multimedia elements should be leveraged to counter the negative narrative about disability.
· The Disability and Inclusion must tickle down to grassroots level. There is a need for a Disability Desk at every local government in Nigeria.
· Synergy and teamwork among the PwD community is a necessity for Disability and inclusion across board in Nigeria.
· To achieve Disability and Inclusion in Nigeria, the Government needs to go beyond promulgating Disability Act 2019 and establish a body that will monitor the implementation and regulation of civil society working in the disability space.
· There is a need for adult PwD to be good models and to intentionally mentor young PwDs so as to be interested in pushing the cause of disability and inclusion.
· Stakeholders in the society such as traditional and religious leaders need to be recruited into the fight against negative stereotypes and disability exclusion.
The programme which was hybrid in nature had both virtual and physical participants totalling about 19 which include Cluster lead of Albinism- Tolani Ojuri, Executive Director of Star children initiatives Nigeria and UK (Mrs Grace-Alexander) who shared her thoughts on the theme.
After CDIA Accessibility challenge’s in Nigeria’s Airports call, Federal Government Dissolves Aviation Ministry’s Executives/ MDAs managements
This publication may be coming late, we took responsibility for this, but it is worth nothing that after our call on the federal government to prioritise Persons with Disability call, disability accessibility in Nigeria’s airports on Monday 11th December, 2023; it is worthy of note that three days after, Thursday December 14, 2023, the President of Nigeria, President Ahmed Tinubu had sacked all Aviation Ministry’s directors and replace them with new persons so as to create opportunity for reorganization.
While we continue to celebrate such action, the President’s listening to the call of concerned Nigerians, we must also emphasise the fact that dissolving or replacing top executives in any organization may be a starting point, ensuring the right culture, approach to work that gets things done will go a long way.
As an organization, we will continue to step up conversation so our governance structure among others becomes sustainable and all embracing.–
Technology serves as a mainstream which provides many devices, equipment that aid the existence of mankind on earth. With this growth various assistive products and services emerged. Assistive technology is equipment used to improve the ability of persons with disabilities to participate in education, employment, and live independent and dignified lives.
It serves as an umbrella term covering the systems and services related to the delivery of assistive products and services. As the world is tilting towards assistive technology, Nigeria is not left out. There are 25 million people with disabilities according to WHO which cover 12.5% of the total population as of 2011.
Even before assistive technology came into full-fledged use, there has been wooden walking sticks used by people with physical impairments to aid their movement. This shows the inclusiveness and foresight of Nigeria about assistive technology in putting into consideration people living with disabilities. The federal ministry of health had passed verdict on assistive devices being produced in the world through their publication
Before the advent of assistive technology, there are no ways persons with visual impairment could read or write. They rely on whatever they hear but braille bridged the gap. Today, there are two types of braille; braille equipment and braille slate. The braille equipment translates information appearing on a computer screen to braille by electronically lowering and raising different combinations of pins to produce in braille which appears on a portion of the computer screen.
The most common today is the braille slate which is operated manually. The slate can be metal or plastic, with two plated hinged together on the top or side to hold papers for writing braille. Braille has been adopted even in special schools for the visually impaired and this has increased literacy among the blind.
Eye glasses are said to be the most popular assistive device used by Nigerians. People wear eye glasses because their vision is flawed. Sometimes, people can stop using it if the vision defect is gone but most times people constantly aid their eyes’ vision clarity.
Lenses are mounted onto the eyeglass frame to help in focusing of the image to help individuals with visual impairment due to long term refractive error. Nigerians term these short sighted and long sighted.
Physical motion impairments have hindered growth of people who have this disability. People who have this disability can stay in a certain position for hours without any change of movement and this often leads to stiffness of the backbone. The provision of a wheelchair has become handy. This is widely used and oftentimes it is given out freely by non-governmental Organizations(NGOs), government and philanthropists. Wheelchairs are for people with limited mobility.
Crutches can also be used as walking aid with elbow, underarm or forearm support and a single shaft fitted with a tip, intended to support balance or weigh bearing through the legs. This is used to give temporary support to anyone that has walking impairments.
After the above, then came the emergence of assistive apps for smartphones and tablets. These have also made it easy for speech to text, sign language interpretation and auditory assistance. These applications are to aid access to information and communication. This allows a person with disabilities to communicate with others easily without a hitch.
In conclusion, assistive technology has been widely accepted in Nigeria and it has served as a way of independence, empowerment and attestation of inclusivity being propagated in Nigeria.
In terms of assistive technology, Nigeria may not be where it should be but it can be said Nigeria is taking its baby steps in making life easier for Persons with Disabilities. Having said that, Nigeria has a long way to go to meet the global standards.