Lionheart Ability Leaders International Foundation, LALIF, is seeking collaborative partnerships with Organizations of Persons with Disabilities (OPDs) to foster all-round inclusion for Persons with Deaf-Blindness in Lagos State.
Founding Executive Director of LALIF, Mr. Solomon Okelola made this known when he led a team members of the organization on a courtesy visit to the Lagos State Association of the Deaf (LSAD) on 28th January, 2022. The event was supported by Disability Rights Fund.
At the meeting, Mr. Solomon Okelola remarked that persons with deaf-blindness are equally citizens of society like everyone else. He pointed out that majority of these Deaf-blind persons are found within the Deaf community owing to communication difficulties and their use of Sign Language.
It is sad though to note that they (the Deaf-blind) are often left out of day-to-day activities by peers and family members alike who do not realize their additional needs arising from their low or total lack of vision.
Okelola further lamented that the few deaf-blind individuals who make it to schools for the blind or the deaf are not fully provided for. He observes that schools can only provide for specific needs related to vision or hearing loss. They cannot accommodate the concurrent disability of Deaf-Blindness in the teaching-learning process.
For this reason, Mr. Okelola, says most deaf-blind individuals cannot benefit from curricular and extracurricular activities in these schools.
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Given the current state of affairs, he says, it is very important to identify these individuals, assess the level of their dual impairments and needs, with a view to equipping people around them with relevant knowledge and skills to enhance provision for these needs.
Mr. Solomon noted that majority of these individuals were currently inaccessible – locked away in homes by their parents and other family members in the erroneous belief that these individuals, robbed of sight and hearing cannot contribute anything to society.
Solomon recalled the case of a young, deaf-blind man in Kano State committing suicide last year owing to loneliness and isolation.
According to him, “Locating these individuals will enhance chances of rehabilitation while helping them access their fundamental human rights and utilize their talents/abilities towards living meaningful and productive lives in society.
The Executive Director further explained that identification of these persons would enhance proper educational placement after a comprehensive assessment of their disability, present level of functioning, academic capacities, etc.
Likewise, coming together as a body will help these individuals and their family members to struggle for recognition as bona-fide citizens with access to their human rights.
In championing the aforementioned cause, Mr. Solomon reveals efforts are in the works to register the Nigerian Association of Persons with Deaf-blindness. He noted that such association exists in several nations under the auspices of the World Federation of Deaf-blindness and the African Federation of Deaf-blindness.
Mr. Okelola told LSAD executives that LALIF is fully ready to work with the association to identify and ensure general welfare of persons with deaf-blindness and hopes the association would work with LALIF in the quest.
He introduced LALIF’s project tagged “Operation Stop Usher Syndrome: Building a Future for the Deaf-blind In Nigeria”, to LSAD executives while enlightening them on Usher Syndrome – the major cause of deaf-blindness. He also explained how the current mass ignorance about the condition in Nigeria portends an increase in future incidences of Deaf-blindness in the nation.
The Executive Director went on to inform the executives of the organization’s plan to do a baseline survey research on the level of access to primary health services including COVID-19 response and recovery programs for persons with disabilities (especially persons with Deaf-blindness) in Lagos State. He explained that it was going to be a qualitative research with focused group discussion and requested for between 10-15 members to represent the association in the survey.
Assurances were given that LALIF had several projects coming up and would work with the Deaf Association to ensure all-round inclusion of Persons with Disabilities in Nigeria.
In response, LSAD chairperson, Mr Issa Ahmadu Usman assured that he and his team would work closely with the fledgling organization. He also assured that LSAD’s General Secretary would get the names of the association’s participants to the LALIF’s administrative officer for the research.