The marriage between Funmi, a fashion model and Emeka, a medical doctor was least expected because their personalities and temperaments appeared to be worlds apart.
Funmi was beautiful, extroverted, upbeat, a great lover of outdoor events and luxury. Emeka did not possess great physical looks, a typical introvert, prefers indoor activities and rather modest in his taste. They made a great couple, surprisingly.
Two years afterwards, Bunmi, their first and only child came along. They were overjoyed to receive her. ‘This is the love of our love’ Funmi would tell anyone who visited.
This great couple soon discovered Bunmi, ‘the love our love’ and only child was hearing impaired because she was not responding to sound stimuli in her environment. A hearing impairment is defined by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), Arizona USA, as “an impairment in hearing, whether permanent or fluctuating, that adversely affects a child’s educational performance but is not included under the definition of ‘deafness.’”
Knowing the definition of deafness is necessary to understand what sorts of disabilities are considered hearing impairments. A hearing loss above 90 decibels is generally considered deafness, which means that a hearing loss below 90 decibels is classified as a hearing impairment.
Emeka and Funmi got really disturbed and sought medical advice. They were referred to a paediatric specialist hospital, after series of examinations; Bunmi got a hearing aid and started responding to sounds. Whilst Bunmi’s case was resolved and she was able to attend school, this is not so for millions of other Nigerian children living with disabilities, who face talent crisis because they live below the so-called poverty line and most schools are not designed to educate children living with disabilities.
Using the world population disability ratio by the World Health Organisation and World Bank, Nigeria has over 20million people living with disability. Over 70 percent of this population has no access to education.
Now, according to the World Bank, 45 percent of the 10 million out of school children are people living with disability. Despite Nigeria ratifying the United Nation convention on right of people living with disability, an inclusive education policy is far becoming a reality.
Within contemporary Nigerian society, there is little appreciation that disability is fundamentally an issue inexorably link to and rooted in human rights. The common perception, held by policy-makers and the public at large, is that disabled people and disability issues are viewed in terms of charity and welfare.
Consequently, this viewpoint is a significant, entrenched factor that seriously militates against the social inclusion of disabled people within the country. This is manifested in a number of ways. Firstly, at national level, there is no disability discrimination legislation that has been enacted within Nigeria, despite the fact that two bills have been introduced into the National Assembly.
Secondly, there is no form of social protection for disabled people in Nigeria which exacerbates the level of poverty that they encounter. Thirdly, the Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development is the lead government department for disability issues in Nigeria. However, the services that they provide are based on a charity/welfare approach to disability issues, with demand for such services far outstripping supply.
There are some international Non-Governmental Organisations that do supply services to disabled people, but their geographical coverage is very limited. Consequently, for the vast majority of disabled people living in Nigeria, particularly those living in rural areas, there is no access to disability services whatsoever. Again, this situation compounds the level of social exclusion that they experience.
STEPHEN ONYEKWELU
