DISABILITY ACT: NABFCT seeks for full implementation to enhance full participation of Persons with Disabilities in the society.

by Chris Agbo

National Association of the Blind, FCT Chapter on Monday presented their accessibility audit carried out in the FCT to ascertain the level of access to public infrastructures by persons with disabilities in the FCT to the media.

The project which was funded by Disability Rights Fund was carried out in the facilities such as Schools, MDAs, and Transportation.

The Chairman, NAB FCT, Mr. Obinna Ekujereonye in his opening speech describe the media as the most integral part of the advocacy and as such, the media should be a partner to ensure that advocacy is successful. He urged the media to do more in carrying this advocacy message to the nooks and crannies until the duty bearers do the needful. Speaking further, he said that for the implementation of the Disability Act to be successful, the media must create more programmes around the Act and educate the public on the content of the act.

The Program Coordinator of the Disability Rights Fund (DRF) Barrister Theophilus Odaudu took the media to the understanding of the disability inclusion. He explained different approaches adopted towards solving the problem of the persons with disabilities ranging from Medical approach, where disability problem were viewed as a health problem, but majority of the cases are beyond medical solution so this approach cannot be the solution, then charity approach like the name implies, NGOs were tackling the problem from the lens of providing food, materials for the persons with disabilities but it was not sustainable because at a time the funders became fatigue because if you gave somebody food, of course the food will finish and the person will come back to you. Social model or approach, it is what we regarded as right based approach, which simply means removing those barriers that hinders persons with disabilities to function effectively within the society. If the disabling barriers are removed, a person with disability will not feel disabled again. He explained that inclusion simply means removing the disabling barriers that the society created which hinders the full participation of against persons with disabilities in the society.

The highlight of the event was the presentation of ACCESSIBILITY AUDIT OF PUBLIC INFRASTRUCTURE IN THE FCT by Mr. Obinna Ekujereonye. He gave a background of the project which among other points raised, most importantly is that Nigerians with disabilities face a lot of discrimination and exclusion but the most challenging one is the inaccessible public infrastructure. It is the major contributors to the World bank and WHO report on disability describing persons with disabilities as the poorest of the poor. It also hinged on article 9 of the CRPD which states that in order “to enable persons with disabilities live independently and participate fully in all aspects of life, state parties shall take appropriate measures to ensure that persons with disabilities access on an equal basis with others, the physical environment, to transportation, to information and communications technologies and systems, and other facilities and services open or provided to the public both in urban and in rural areas” and the implementation of the Discrimination against persons with disabilities Prohibition Act 2018 section 2-7 that dwells on accessibility of persons with disabilities.

A total of 11 public infrastructure were audited ranging from School of Nursing Gwagwalada, University of Abuja Gwagwalada, National Open University, Head of Service, Ministry of Labour and Employment, Civil Service Commission, FCT Metro Station, Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, God is Good Motors, ABC transport and Peace Mass transit.

The Findings from the Audit are:  

• None of the public infrastructure audited has a disability friendly policy, access team or a disability desk.
• Staff of the audited facilities have not received training on disability inclusion.
• Physical environment of all the schools audited are not accessible to persons with disabilities. This portrays the extent to which persons with disabilities are excluded from education opportunities.
• Out of 4 transport facilities audited, only the metro train station to a large extent is physically accessible to persons with disabilities. 
• Compared to other public infrastructure the ministries, department and agencies audited returned as the most inaccessible to persons with disabilities.
• None of the communication needs (braille, signages, sign language) of persons with disabilities were addressed in all the audited facilities.

The effect of lack of access to public infrastructure to Persons with disabilities which was discovered through focus group discussion are:

• Most of the participants highlighted discrimination as one of the major challenges they face in accessing economic opportunities.
• Others stated that inaccessible public infrastructure is the major challenge in accessing opportunities that will improve their economic status.
• Some of the persons with hearing impairment explained that they have difficulties access job opportunities due to lack of sign language interpreters in government MDAs.
• When asked how many of them have accessed government economic interventions, the participants explained that due to lack of inclusive information about these programs, they are not able to know when these programs are advertised.
• One of the participants who is a woman with visual impairment narrated the difficulty she encountered in tertiary institution and she was asked severally to withdraw because “the university is not special school”

The recommendation from the accessibility audit are:

• There is need to increase public awareness and sensitization on disability inclusion to ensure that during program planning and interventions, persons with disabilities are not left behind.
• Training and re-training of staff of public and private institutions on accessibility is key to achieving disability inclusion.
• To ensure “Nothing About us Without us, persons with disabilities should be made focal persons in public and private institutions.
• There is need to improve media engagement on disability inclusion.
• The Discrimination Against Persons with Disabilities Prohibition Act, 2018 should be fully implemented to eliminate all barriers that militate against full participation of Persons with Disabilities in the society.

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SEE SOME CLIPS OF THE EVENT: