Addressing Challenges Of Persons With Disabilities

The global community recently marked the
International Day for Persons with Disabilities.
The theme for this year’s celebration which was ‘Achieving 17 Goals for the Future We Want’ was to draw attention to the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and how they could create a more inclusive and equitable world for persons with disabilities.
Indeed, inclusive and equitable society for persons with disabilities will not only promote the development of their innate potentials but will also make them viable and active contributors to socio-economic development.
Regrettably, society has over the years maintained an unjust, if not criminal negligence to the challenges and needs of persons with disabilities, including infants, the youth and the aged among them.
Policies and programmes of both public and private sector players have overwhelmingly been tailored for the abled, as if persons with disabilities do not exist or matter to the society.
Thus, they have been discriminated against in the provision of infrastructural facilities, as in accessing public buildings and airports, educational requirements and sign language support staff, among others.
The Tide therefore believes that achieving the goals for the future they want cannot be realistic if all stakeholders remain indeferent to the well-being and welfare of persons with disabilities .
Therefore, government at all levels and private and public sector players must see persons with disabilities as critical factors in the nation’s economic equation and partner them to achieve these SDGs.
They must also factor their interests in policies and programmes to achieve the desired inclusive and equitable society for persons with disabilities.
Indeed, an inclusive and equitable society that would enable them optimally harness their potentials is what they need and not pity or handouts. Of particular interest is the urgent need to integrate children with disabilities, because, as the saying goes, the future belongs to them.
Examples abound of children with disabilities that have made impact globally in their countries and in the private sector as Presidents, Ministers, CEOs, among others, with proper training and incentives.
Regrettably, out of 10.5 million school children in Nigeria, seven million are children with disabilities. This is a challenge to faith-based organizations to adopt inclusive educational approach that takes cognizance of their needs.
Furthermore, policies and programmes of private and public sector players should consider the needs of the physically challenged persons, such as children and the elderly, among others, when considering the building of health, educational and social development projects such as ATMs, airports, recreational facilities, highways and public convenience.
Nigeria should therefore exhibit the required political will to adopt the 17 SDGs to give free education to all children and ensure that no child is left behind while the adults are catered for.
Government and the society at large should do the needful by evolving a virile platform to promote the common interests and wellbeing of disabled persons. This, we believe could be achieved through special education, training in skills, provision of grants, employment and scholarships among others .
We also urge persons with disabilities not to see themselves as disabled but as people challenged to greater heights. They must build a viable platform to promote their common interests, overcome challenges and improve their welfare.
They should realize that there is only a thin line between ability and disability which requires the “yes we can” spirit to overcome.
Challenges should therefore not amount to the end of the world for the disabled persons.
Persons with disabilities should therefore strive to create the future they want for themselves without waiting for anyone.
Support will naturally come when, either individually or as a group, persons with disabilities take initiatives that defy their apparent limitations by putting to use their latent potentials and endowments.
They should believe, they can.