By Chris Agbo,
Nigerian National Association of the Deaf (NNAD) on Wednesday in Abuja called on Ministry of Aviation, Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, Federal Airport Authority and other federal regulatory agencies in the aviation industry to investigate and prosecute the discriminatory aviation policies that are unfriendly to Deaf people in Nigeria.
This request was made by The National President of the group, Dr. Chidi Topaz Olujie in a press conference organized by the group in conjunction with World Federation of the Deaf in their headquarters Abuja.
Dr. Chidi said that these unfriendly policies encourage airline operators to carry out unacceptable acts against their members. It is highly unfair, wrong and condemnable to prevent a Deaf who paid for his/her flight tickets with his/her hard-earned money from boarding simply because there is an aviation policy that mandates him or her not to travel alone, he or she must be accompanied by a person without disability without specifying who will pay for such as a person thereby creating an extra cost for persons with disabilities.
He said that these acts of discrimination brought about by these unfair policies are designed to victimized persons with disabilities especially the Deaf Community to discourage persons with disabilities from air travels. “We are viewed as second class citizens so these acts may be to frustrate us from embarking on air travels”.
He demanded that these acts be put to an end and the unfair policies should be reversed and all authorities concern should take note because the policies are totally against The Discrimination against Persons with Disabilities (Prohibition) Act 2018.
