By Chris Agbo,
Inclusive Friends Assooiation(IFA) have marked International Day of persons with Disabilities in style at Silverbird Gallery Abuja on Tuesday when they brought together leaders of disability community to watch a movie called Crip Camp. A documentary on how Americans with disabilities fought for American Disability Act(ADA).
The event was supported by Save the Children was part of the “Include me” project which geared towards advocating the inclusion of Persons with disabilities in Social Protection Programmes.
The Founder and Executive Director of Inclusive Friends Assooiation (IFA) in her opening speech, appreciates the relentless commitments of PWDs towards driving and leading initiatives that promote the inclusion of Nigerians with disabilities in various spaces; social inclusion, sexual and reproductive health rights, gender and the electoral process.
“Our socio economic journey has been riddled with so many challenges especially for citizens with disabilities who have to fight twice as hard to get by their businesses due to the numerous accessibility challenges we face in our various communities; these are not restricted to attitudinal, physical or environmental, but also institutional barriers in our quest to be fully included in the socio economic rights of our communities” she said.
Speaking further, she said that this year’s theme “Building back better: towards an inclusive, accessible and sustainable post-COVID-19 world by, for and with persons with disabilities” recognizes that disability is a human right, as such all sectors of the Nigerian society must take deliberate steps towards closing the gap of exclusion and marginalization that exist against persons with disabilities. It also points to the fragile conditions of our health sectors especially its inaccessibility to persons with disabilities and COVID 19 pandemic also showed us how persons with disabilities had to fight twice as hard to get access to information and communication materials on how to keep safe, access to personal protective equipment and even harder to access palliatives to support their livelihood when various lockdown measures were imposed in various states of the federation.
“In building a post COVID 19 that is accessible, inclusive and sustainable, government, business and the Nigerian citizens must be intentional about social protection programs, investment and our attitude towards disability and persons with disabilities. Article 28 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilties, which Nigeria is a signatory to emphasizes adequate standard of living and social protection and States Parties like Nigeria should recognize this and try to commit towards meeting this very important article.
She also stated that Discrimination Against Persons with Disabilities (Prohibition) Act 2019 makes very vast provisions that are pro social protection for persons with disabilities, especially free education, healthcare and at least 5% employment opportunities for qualified persons with disabilities across different ministries, departments and agencies of government. These are few among the many provisions of the law, which we specially appreciate President Muhammadu Buhari for passing the Act into Law, and the Establishment of the National Commission for Persons with Disabilities.
For an accessible, inclusive and sustainable post COVID 19 world, Nigeria must invest in pro social protection programmes. The National Assembly must expediently conduct oversights functions in the 12 ministries and agencies to implement the employment quota provisions for qualified PWDs to be employed, direct oversight on the ministry of information to create awareness regarding the rights, respect, dignity and contributions of PWDs to the Nigerian society, Perform oversight on appropriate agencies to ensure that new buildings have accessibility facilities in line with the building codes, Perform oversights on the ministry of aviation to ensure that all airliners working in Nigeria have lift trucks and isle chairs to enable persons on wheelchairs enter the aircraft without undergoing very derogatory practice of being carried in inappropriate manner, ensures that all public schools whether primary, secondary or tertiary shall be made inclusive and accessible to all PWDs and to make braille, sign language and other means of communication for PWDs part of our educational curriculum, and provide clear budget provisions for the National Commission for Persons with Disabilities to enable the Commission carryout its functions of supporting the government implement initiatives that foster access and inclusion of persons with disabilities in Nigeria.
And the ministry of humanitarian affairs, disaster management and social development should also fast track and coordinate the inclusion of persons with disabilities into the National Social Investment Program (NSIP) and other social protection programs with the National Social Safety Nets Coordinating Office (NASSCO) should open its register to include persons with disabilities and households with persons with disabilities, as they constitute the most vulnerable.
“Business owners should also make efforts to make their businesses accessible for persons with disabilities to increase their customer pool”.
“Most importantly, Nigerians should understand that persons with disabilities are humans first before their disabilities, and so they must be treated with respect and dignity just like any other citizens”.
“As we forge into the next year, taking steps towards achieving an accessible, inclusive and sustainable post COVID 19 world must be guided by clear implementation by the government for the full inclusion of the Disability Act, and the review of the current social protection programmes to fully include citizens with disabilities. That way, we are not only reducing shocks of households, but also reducing dependency ration and supporting productivity of the Nigerians with Disabilities” she concluded.
The event witnessed a panel discussion that featured seasoned disability rights activists such as Jake Epelle ( Founder and CEO of The Albino Foundation) and Florence Marcus( Founder of Amputee Coalition). A session that was facilitated by Jesse John, a program officer of IFA looked into COVID-19 pandemic and it’s effect on PWDs and how Post- COVID-19 programmes should target PWDs and how PWDs can be deliberately included in Social Protection Programmes and other disability issues including how unity in disability Community can enhance synergy and development in disability Community.
The highlight of the event was the showing of the movie “Crip Camp” which got the participants sober, motivated, captivated and after the movie, many of them shared what they learnt from the movie. The major lessons were unity towards achieving PWDs common goal, resilient in approach to things by PWDs, determination to achieve success, taking challenge of discrimination against you instead for agonizing, clusters matters less, what matters more is understanding their different needs and form it as common needs and pursue it.
