The Abia State Commission for the Welfare of Disabled Persons has announced plans to engage professional therapists across the 17 Local Government Areas (LGAs) of the state to support persons with intellectual disabilities.
The Chairman of the Commission, Mr. David Anyaele, disclosed this during a town hall meeting with Persons with Disabilities (PWDs) in Ukwa East LGA. According to him, the initiative aims to help beneficiaries develop communication, play, and life skills that would enable them to live more independently from parents and caregivers.
He further stated that healthcare workers would be trained to deliver specialized services that would encourage inclusive education and ensure that children with disabilities attend school without discrimination. The move, he said, is in response to concerns raised by caregivers about the economic hardship and peculiar challenges faced by persons with intellectual disabilities, especially those who neither hear nor speak.
Highlighting Governor Alex Otti’s commitment to disability inclusion, Anyaele noted that Abia had recently secured the establishment of a Zonal Office of the National Commission for PWDs in Umuahia. He added that the Commission has already embarked on key initiatives, including PWDs’ data collation, leadership capacity-building, and training of LG Mayors and Permanent Secretaries on disability laws and inclusion.
Different disability clusters—blind, deaf, physical, and intellectual—used the town hall to present their needs, ranging from scholarships, assistive devices, and skills acquisition opportunities, to the provision of ramps for accessibility. In his remarks, Ukwa East LGA Chairman, Mr. Chibunna Akara, represented by his Deputy, Mrs. Thelma Ekeke, pledged the council’s continuous support, assuring that ramps would soon be installed at the LGA secretariat to improve accessibility.
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