Disabled Persons Kick Against Discrimination

The Chairman of the Association for Comprehensive Empowerment of Nigerians with Disability (ASCEND) in Anambra, Ms Hope Ngwube, has called on the state government and corporate groups to assist people with disability.

Ngwube made the call in Awka last Friday at a Wheelchair Nigeria Pageant ceremony.

She said issues concerning physically challenged persons in Nigeria had always been seen as secondary or completely neglected by the three tiers of government.

The chairman said the physically challenged persons in the state suffered neglect, discrimination, stigmatization, marginalisation as well as health problems.

She called on the state government to refurbish the rehabilitation centres for the physically challenged persons in the state to make them fit for human habitation.

According to her, Wheelchair Nigeria Pageant is an awareness campaign to draw attention to the plight of the physically challenged and selecting the most accomplished and articulate ones.

She said it was also to raise awareness for their abilities and influence attitudinal from the people of the state.

In a keynote address, the Vice Chancellor of Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Prof. Boniface Egboka, said about 20 per cent of Nigerians are living with disability as stated by a UNDP report.

According to him, disability is in the mind, and it has been proven that disabled persons can develop special skill to help themselves.

He called on them to make the best of their situation rather than roam the streets begging for arms.