By Caro-Ann Aricha Ogri
There is nothing like a single-issue struggle because we do not live single-issue lives… Audre Lorde
Lois Auta had polio when she was two and this left her consigned to a wheelchair. But it has not hindered her from being a champion for change. She has become a strong voice for the voiceless woman living with disability in Nigeria. She supports the issue of disability rights in Nigeria and many others through the Cedar Seed Foundation which she established. Lois was honored as Young Global Leader for the year 2017. Another, Miss Adenike Oyetunde is a writer with disability. She is also a lawyer, a voice medium, an author, an influencer, and a life coach. Oyetunde was diagnosed with bone cancer on her right limb and was amputated at 20. That experience completely changed her life but this didn’t hinder her progress as she has been a voice for equality and inclusion in Nigeria.
All these sheroes were able to participate in the development of their country because they were educated and were willing to change something in society despite their gender and physical disadvantage. They have lent their voices to the voices of the voiceless and very strongly believed in the change for the future sheroes in Nigeria.
Education plays a key role in amplifying the voices of all women including those with disabilities and other vulnerable populations. Disability does not only affect their learning but also creates hindrances in attaining leadership and governance roles hence more care and opportunity should be given to those with this disadvantage for a better and more equitable society.
Over the years, Nigeria has remained a party to several international and national commitments to gender equality and rights of the protectiveness of specifically women with disabilities. There are: the United Nations Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities (CRPD) which was ratified in 2007 and its optional protocol in 2010, the ratified Discrimination Against Persons with Disabilities (Prohibition) Act 2018, and the National Policy on Inclusive Education. The fact that there is so much advocacy and commitment to implement these issues is still not significant; serious gaps for women with disabilities and other vulnerable members of society are in the area of education and empowerment.
It should be stated that the value of education as motivation and empowerment as well as leadership is significant. However, women with disability and other vulnerable women in Nigeria today have no access to quality education. The gender compass estimated that only 1% of girls with disabilities can complete secondary Education in Nigeria. This unequal accessibility to school is a specific way of portraying exclusion from education for these women.
Access to mobility is a problem for such people. Most schools do not have the proper facilities that can help students with disabilities like ramps, and toilets among other disability-friendly accessories. Considering that the families in which the children are born are poor and the levels of poverty within such families are usually high notably for the families with disabled members the problem seems to be compounded. The proportion of education that these families have to go alongside the provision of specialized resources that they require makes education a high expense for these families.
There are also cultural and attitudinal barriers. Discussions on disability or gender often end up in discrimination against disabled female learners. Such women are further marginalized by religion as well as expectations and false perceptions of disability in society. And on the other hand, we still have cultural traditions like child marriage where a female is seen as an item to be shipped off to a man’s house to begin her childbearing journey and nothing else.
The COVID-19 pandemic made matters worse for the education system which was already uneven on equality grounds. The shift in the learning system to the web has been most difficult for disabled students because electronic textbooks as well as other material that could promote access to learners with disabilities are non-existent.
There are many NGOs that play very crucial roles in advocating and protecting the rights of women with disabilities and other marginalized people in society. This is because most of them are born out of experiences with a drive to find solutions for problems that the common man faces. These organizations have the capabilities to help address some of these issues but their efforts need support from the government which in turn needs to run an open-door policy to work with these organizations and produce proper guidelines for the development and implementation of inclusion policies.
The International Declaration of Strategies for Achieving the Rights of Women with Disabilities is used in many countries worldwide. The comparison of these countries’ experiences would be helpful for the creation and implementation of similar policies of inclusion and accessibility of resources in Nigeria. Other tools need to be used to assist in measuring the rate of progress concerning inclusive education and leadership programs. Information such as gender and disability data as well as assessment can assist in measuring the impact of such policies and programs.
Qualitatively improving the involvement of women with disability and other excluded women in Nigeria’s elections and/or politics would help actualize the country’s aspiration for inclusive governance and development. So, educating these women and actively promoting gender equality will contribute to Nigeria’s successful democratization and would allow all citizens to be potentially involved in the future of the country.
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Ogri, a communications for Development Strategist wrote in from the Dorothy Njemanze Foundation Abuja.
