Friday, March 29, 2024

Inclusion policy: Advocates lament inadequate infrastructure for persons with disabilities

Despite efforts to integrate people with disability in Nigeria, millions of those in this category have continuously been marginalised in the provision of accessibility to public physical infrastructure such as banks, schools, eateries, hotels, public transportation, cinemas, worship places, event halls and
others.

According to the world report on disability published in 2011, about 25 million Nigerians had at least one disability, while 3.6 million of this figure had very significant difficulties in functioning.

The 2006 Nigerian census reported 3,253,169 people with disabilities, or 2.32 per cent of the total population of 140,431,790 in that year.

it is imperative that a disabled person lives an active lifestyle and for them to achieve that, there must be some amenities on ground that will make them comfortable. If that is not provided, these people feel downcast and their lives degenerate gradually

Apart from public pedestrian bridges and hospital pathways designed for the disabled, the PWDs are also being deprived of funds, employment opportunities, and leadership positions as well as improved educational facilities. This has resulted in socio-political inequality, social stigmatisation, high level of illiteracy, open discrimination, insecurity, and exclusiveness, which increases the dependency on others without disability.

GOVT’s EFFORTS

The Founder and President of Benola Foundation, an African cerebral palsy initiative, Air Vice Marshal Femi Gbadebo (retd.), said, “On the part of the Lagos State Government, in the last 35years, concerted efforts have been made and that is why you find that in state government agencies, we have slightly accessible infrastructure for PWDs and we can see that all over Lagos now, they are trying to create accessible overhead
bridges.”

He noted that the policy that the Lagos State Government announced about last year for the disabled provided, among other things, free transportation for them, friendly motor parks and bus stops as well as walkways.

“All these things are interesting and Lagos is really trying but it goes beyond that as enforcement process of these infrastructure usage is still faulty because they need to know the kind of disabled persons they are trying to provide the facilities for; that is like having a census of PWDs or setting up a platform, where PWDs will register,” Gbadebo
said.

SENSITISING PUBLIC/GOVT OFFICIALS ON PWDs

He added that a lot still needed to be done on educating the public and administrators about what disability entailed.

He said, “The general perception is that you have to be blind, deaf or physically deformed somehow to be recognised as a person with disability, which is wrong. There are some kinds of disabilities that do not show physically such as intellectual disability and invisible disability. If you don’t understand all these things and how disability functions, take, for instance public, transport, we may be confused. “If you say there is free transportation for a disabled person; if the person is blind or deaf and dumb, it means the person may need an assistant in commuting on a bus. So, what happens? Is it free for the disabled and the assistant has to pay?”

He added, “In essence, government ought to make a pronouncement. The next step will be to set up a process to properly articulate these things, followed by a massive awareness campaign for the public. If you go to a lot of government parastatals, you will find out that a lot of the architectural design considerations for ramps are faulty, thereby making accessibility to the entrance of many buildings and routes difficult due to difference between indoor and outdoor levels; some even have very steep or long ramps with no resting landings in
between.

“All these make the ramps to be abandoned by disabled people. So, it’s not just about creating ramps but also ensuring that construction or architectural experts’ design conform to the standard configuration as done in other climes. So, the government needs to be tactful in all these facilities for disabled people.”

PUTTING UP PWDs-FRIENDLY FACILITIES

Gbadebo noted that government needed to come out with enforcement rules in terms of how public or private organisations, agencies or parastatals could modify their buidlings, and give them deadline to make every new structure disabled-friendly before approval.

Such structures, he said, included public buildings such as hotels, shopping complex, schools and everything that the entire public patronise.

He noted, “Foreign outlets or organisations in the country, for instance, have provision for PWDs because it has been entrenched in the laws of their countries of origin and this shows inclusion. Even in these places, you would realise that they had not been used in a long time, which many people regard as wastage.

“The fact remains that there is the need for massive sensitisation and advocacy for PWDs, because it goes beyond lip service, but taking it as a serious business, and it is until when the Nigerian government gets it right, that they can have bragging rights on the inclusion of disabled people.”

TASK BEFORE PWDs’ ADMINISTRATORS

The Director, Pacelli School for the Blind and Partially Sighted Children, Lagos, Ms. Jane Onyeneri, said that the Federal government had not paid attention to the disabled children over the years, adding that this had been a major challenge for administrators and advocators of people living with disability.

She said that many physically challenged persons still faced difficulties in accessing many infrastructure in the country as they usually felt unwelcomed, stigmatised and withdrawn from the public.

“Looking at banks for instance, they don’t have pathways for wheelchairs and elevators that can aid a disabled person in getting into the banking hall. Even doors to many public places are not wide enough to fit in wheel chairs that can turn,” Onyeneri said.

She explained that many developing countries in the world had inclusive disability rights legislation and policy regimes, where disabled people were involved at all levels in the society and not left as odds and tools for charity because the main sources of assistive devices for PWDs across the country were often individuals, private companies and religious establishments.

The school director noted that the Lagos State Government had been supporting disabled persons because it remained the only state with special persons’ bill and had also set up an office for disability affairs.

She said the office had been responsible for the provision of educational materials and other devices such as walking sticks, crutches, braces, walkers, and hearing aids to ensure that disabled people had an active lifestyle.

WHAT PWDs NEED  TO LIVE  LONGER  -EXPERT

However, a physiotherapist with the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital, Calabar, Cross River State, Dr. Idongesit Obong, noted that with good health, persons with disabilities had the freedom to work, learn and engage actively in their family and community affairs.

Obong added that health and wellness were not the same, describing them as concepts that could directly affect the quality of a person’s life experience.

He said if people with disabilities were not provided with infrastructure or facilities that would make them comfortable, they had the tendency to withdraw and resign to their fate.

This, he said, would in turn make them choose a sedentary lifestyle that would render them inactive and shorten their lifespan.

“When it comes to access, many infrastructure in public places, including health and wellness programmes, do not address the needs of persons with disabilities. So, it is imperative that a disabled person lives an active lifestyle, and for them to achieve that, there must be some amenities on ground that will make them comfortable. If that is not provided, these people feel downcast and their lives degenerate gradually,” Obong said.

He added that without accommodation and support, ample access to health care, engagement in wellness activities and the impetus coming from supportive friends and families, persons with disabilities could not lead long, productive and healthy lives.

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