Being disabled could be devastating for those who experience inadequate social and cultural emancipation under such conditions of living. The major factors which influence the impact of disabilities are age of onset, degree of severity, attitudes of parents, siblings, the community and the larger society.
In Nigeria, Most of PWDs are endowed with different kind of talents. However, despite their population, the roles they play and their God given talents, government and the society hardly give due them recognition. They are too often been excluded from participating in the general decision making process, even those that directly affect their lives.
It is not impairments that deny us our human and civil rights but prejudice, discrimination and other disabling barriers. The focus of our civil rights movement is therefore on society; it is not on us as individuals. The issue is not our impairments, but the extent to which our society is an integrated one, the extent of social exclusion/inclusion.
We ask not for what disabled people can or cannot do, but for what society can do to tackle the barriers to inclusion.
We disabled people are fighting for a society which celebrates difference, a society which does not react to physical, sensory or intellectual impairments, or emotional distress, with fear and with prejudice. We want a society that recognizes not just the difficulties we face, but which also values us for what we are. Our hope for the future is based on the justness of our wish to have control over our lives, the strength of our demands for equal participation and the passion of our belief in the value of our contribution to the communities in which we live.
Conclusively, As a society, we have to work towards the inclusion of Persons with Disabilities; fitting them into the mainstream of society. We have to plan programmes that empower them through education, rehabilitation, employment, training, consultation and assessment in assistive technology, day care, and social service support. We can succeed in doing all these if we have an attitude change from the negative to the supportive. And most importantly, the government should sign into law our disability bill, and enforce the same.
Finally, I wish to commend the Buhari led Government for signing the Disability Rights Bill and establishing the National Commission of PWDs. it’s our hope that the Commission will be swift to hit its target goals and objectives. However, it’ is imperative for every State of the federation to follow step by signing and implementing the Disability Rights Bill into law in order to reduce discrimination and promote the rights, welfare and equal participation of PWDs in all aspects of life.
HAPPY INTERNATIONAL DAY OF PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES.