World Disability Day: Stakeholders seek adequate inclusion

It is estimated that about one billion people living with disabilities worldwide face many barriers especially inclusion in many key aspects of society, why then do we celebrate World Disability Day every year if it cannot address the challenges these people face? Daily Trust spoke with some persons living with disability and reports thus. People […]

It is estimated that about one billion people living with disabilities worldwide face many barriers especially inclusion in many key aspects of society, why then do we celebrate World Disability Day every year if it cannot address the challenges these people face? Daily Trust spoke with some persons living with disability and reports thus.

People with disabilities also referred to as ‘the world’s largest minority’ do not enjoy access to society on an equal basis with others, which includes areas of transportation, employment, access to public building and education as well as social and political participation.
 The International Day of Persons with Disabilities is marked around the world annually on 3 December, following the General Assembly resolution 47/3 of 14 October 1992, to promote awareness and mobilize support for critical issues pertaining to the inclusion of persons with disabilities in society and development.
 Accessibility and inclusion of persons with disabilities are fundamental rights and they should be able  to live independently and participate fully in all aspects of life and development, hence, the government should take appropriate measures to ensure that persons with disabilities have access to all aspects of society, on an equal basis with others, as well as to identify and eliminate obstacles and barriers to accessibility.
 Speaking on the issue, former Kaduna State Adviser on Disability, Abdullahi Akilu Jugunun lamented that persons living with disability in Kaduna State face a lot of challenges.
 “A lot of people living with disability are educated; unfortunately, people do not take people living with disability as human beings believing that their life revolves round begging for alms.
“People living with disability constitute about 20% of Nigeria’s population and I am of the opinion that we have the right to via for any and every position with political or government just like every normal human being.
 “Unfortunately, politicians only use us during campaign and after the election they dump us. I want the government to consider persons with disability because every community in Nigeria has a person(s) living with disability.
 “People living with disability should be encouraged rather than discouraged because if they are not encouraged, they will likely end up on the streets as beggars who will in the long run become a liability to society,” he said.
Commenting on inclusion of people with disability in government, he said “no government has appointed any person living with disability as a commissioner not to talk of minister, how then can we expect the government to know what we are facing and what we need to surmount certain challenges if we do not have adequate representation.”
 Speaking on the lack of accessibility to public schools and building to people living with disability, he said “most schools and public building are not built to favour people living with disability.
“Even residential houses, if a person living with disability rents a house, he or she has to make some adjustments to the house because of lack of accessibility, Automatic Teller Machine (ATM) in banks amongst other public and private building are not accessible to my kind of people, but if we had adequate representation, the adequate structures I think, to some extent, will be put in place,” he said.
On her part, Controller, Programme, Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN), Nneka Agwebu who has been working for Radio Nigeria for the past 15 years said the barriers faced by persons with disability are a detriment to society adding that accessibility is necessary to achieve progress and development.
“It not been easy living with a special challenge as well as living in a developing country like Nigeria, however, there is hope and with determination, no matter all the barriers and obstacles the sky is our limit.
 “Even though most public building including banks are not configured to favour people living with disability, we want the society to be more accessible to people living with physical challenge, we might not be where we want to be, but we are not where we used to be, some banks like First Bank, where I bank has provided a ramp at the entrance.
 “Before, somebody has to go to the bank for me, but today, I go there myself independently without needing assistance from anyone, however, I cannot access  the ATMs of any bank, I don’t do ATM because it is not accessible to me, so I go to the bank and do my transactions and I would like to appeal to the government to include us in all spheres of the society because it is our right,” she said.
 Speaking on the disability bill, Nneka said, “There is a bill at the National Assembly that is awaiting the president’s assent which he promised to sign into law, some states like Lagos have already passed theirs and we are hoping that Kaduna State will also follow suit and the whole country at large can pass the bill into law so that it is now binding on all public building to make them accessible to persons living with challenges.
  “The passage of the bill will help people living with disability to actualize their rights, we are equal under the law, we have a right to live, we have a right to have a good quality of life, and we have a right to education. If education is not accessible to us, how then can we better our lives and not become a problem to the society,”? she said.
 She said: “The physically challenged community is known all over the world as the majority-minority community and about 10 to 15% of every country’s population has a disability or lives with one disability or the other.”
 Also Salisu Ibrahim, a staff of the News and Current Department of the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN) opinionated that the theme for this year’s International Day of Persons with Disabilities (IDPD), which is “Inclusion Matters: Access and Empowerment of people with All Abilities” is apt considering the difficulties faced.
 He said: “There is a need for governments, United Nations agencies, civil society organizations, media houses, academic institutions and the private sector to strongly encourage and partner with organizations of persons with disabilities to arrange events and activities to commemorate the day.
 “In order to have an inclusive society for all, people should focus on the ability of individuals not on the physical disability. Often, the societal negative perception on people with disabilities constitutes a great barrier to the full and equal participation of persons with disabilities in societal and developmental activities on an equal basis with other members in the society.
 “It is important for people with disabilities, government and the general public to collectively work together in making Nigeria an inclusive nation for citizens with all abilities. In a message to mark this year’s disabled day, the UN Secretary General, Mr. Ban Kimun, calls for full engagements of people with all abilities and working together to transform all the global commitments on persons with disabilities into action.
“As we look ahead, we need to strengthen development policies and practices to ensure that accessibility is part of inclusive and sustainable development. This requires improving our knowledge of the challenges facing all persons with disabilities through robust, disaggregated data and ensuring that they are empowered to create and use opportunities,’ he said.