Tobi Adetunji
“Nearly 1 to 3 of every 1,000 children who become infected with measles will die from respiratory and neurologic complications. Measles may cause pregnant women who have not had the MMR vaccine to give birth prematurely, or have a low-birth-weight baby.”; Studies suggest. Timely intervention to stem the tide of epidemics heralds a new breakthrough. The journey and story of disability impact is still a long walk to freedom.
Developing Societies and wrong belief about disabilities
Few orthodox religious and cultural beliefs still see disabilities as man’s shortfall and wages of sin. This perhaps suggests there is a chance of a divine purpose behind every physical and invisible disability. Inadvertently, this error has led many to wrong perspectives. The bandwagon effect is to soak everyone with disability in the fads of no cure, pity without any hope. But the most important part of the trial is neglect and apathy.
Disabilities are traceable to…
Like viceroys in the house of dragons, everything in nature is a cause from which there flows some effects. Diseases of the nervous system and sensory organs are major causes. Only about 9 percent of disabilities are caused by accidents. It is true we are all one step away from the condescending euphemism of “disability” littering the media space.
About 91% of disabilities are caused by illnesses. Contrary to gross misconceptions and popular erroneous disability beliefs founded largely on wrong belief systems. But for clarity, Musculoskeletal and connective tissue disorders and diseases top the chart of disability. A term with many derogatory nuances of meanings.
Is living 1.3 Billion behind the best option?
The first noticeable implication of all the above in a slightly dividing world. Statistics by the World Health Organization (WHO), posits that an estimated 1.3 billion people experience significant disability, this represents 16% of the world’s population, or 1 in 6 of us. Nearly 240 million of them are children.
A known fact also is that disability prevalence is higher in developing countries (Of the more than one billion people who have some forms of disabilities, 80% live in the developing world.
Image source- Fronteirsin
Disability is not strong enough.
The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development clearly states that disability should be a reason or criteria for lack of access to development programming and the realization of human rights. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) framework includes seven targets which explicitly refer to persons with disabilities, and six further targets on persons in vulnerable situations, which include persons with disabilities.
This is an incredibly exciting time in “disability and inclusion” report, and the many different stories as posers to roll out game changing ethics and shed light on how to identify new approaches to achieve an all-inclusive, friendly tone. Disability is part of the diversity of human experience..
Global awareness of disability-inclusive development is increasing. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) ratified by 185 countries, promotes the full integration of persons with disabilities in societies. The CRPD specifically references the importance of international development in addressing the rights of persons with disabilities.
The odds against PWDs
It is no gainsay that Persons with Impairments, on average as a group, are more likely to experience adverse socioeconomic outcomes such as less education (On average, 87% of persons without disabilities attended school, compared to 77% of persons with disabilities.
On average, 19 percent of less educated people have disabilities, compared to 11 per cent among the better educated), poorer health outcomes (Only 31% of the workforce is covered by employer provided disability insurance, only 34% of Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) claimants are actually approved to receive benefits, and that is approximately $1,200/month on the average), lower levels of employment
Image credit: World Bank
(Only 37% of working-age adults with disabilities are employed, 24% are employed full-time), neglect in emergencies, inaccessible automobiles, housing disadvantages, buildings non-conformity, less economic participations (In developing countries, 80% to 90% of persons with disabilities of working age are unemployed, whereas in industrialized countries the figure is between 50% and 70%), forced marriages, occupational hazards (over 1 in 4 of today’s 20-year-olds will become disabled before they retire), and higher poverty rates (65 percent of individuals living in poverty for at least three years had a disability), than persons without impairments, thus, disability worsens when a disproportionate number of needs are unmet- An increased cost of living with disability.
i Employment
According to the UN international report on disability and employment- The unemployment rate for persons with disabilities is 26%, over five times higher than the 5% rate for persons without disabilities.
The World Bank Group Nigeria has said that out of 18 million People with Disability, PWD, in Nigeria, only 0.3 percent are gainfully employed, in their 2022 statistical report. About 63 per cent of adults with disabilities in Nigeria are unemployed and 30 per cent out of school children are those with disabilities, according to IFA.
ii. Accessibility
Barriers to full social and economic inclusion of persons with disabilities comprising inaccessible physical environments and transportation, the unavailability of assistive devices and technologies, non-adapted means of communication, gaps in service delivery, and attitudinal barriers (discriminatory prejudice, bullying, condescension, stereotyping and stigma) in society, are the real disablements.
Most disabilities are not work-related. The barrage of disabling societal barriers and cold seclusion ground activities while delimiting effective participations of persons with impairments. Nigeria disability laws are not helping matters as we hope too.
Is having a disability the handicap?
John Hurt; “We all have our limitations.” The problem is not disability itself, limiting barriers are the only obstacles and clogs on the wheels of capacity. The new thinking for a new world is that limitations do not define who we are. Eliminate the existing hindrances and impairment is reduced to nothingness.
The role of communities
Communities need to shift our global perspective from charity and tokenistic vantage point to meaningful engagements of Persons with Impairments. This will propel collaborative work for an ideal society. The extraordinary inclusion success in Brexit is an infectious example.
Nigeria ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities (CRPD) in 2007 and its Optional Protocol in 2010. Since then, civil society groups and people with disabilities have called on the government to put it into practice.
Making laws is half the job, execution is everything. While there is not a clear estimation of the number of people with disabilities in Nigeria, data from the 2018 Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey revealed that an estimated 28 Million experience some level of difficulties in at least one..
CAIRO and other examples.
Reuters reported that some physically challenged Egyptians now make prosthetic limbs for the poor disadvantaged. The Coptic Evangelical Organization for Social Services aims to foster social and cultural development in Egypt and has been given $91,000 in funding by the Japanese government. It does not end there.
The organization also has a factory that produces between 1,000 and 1,500 mobility devices such as wheelchairs and crutches each year. A mobile van service is used to deliver their products free of charge, and to provide routine maintenance for their users.
What a PWD can do
Sun Jifa, a physically challenged Chinese man, makes artificial limbs for himself and others. Sweetly, several persons with impairments are becoming the real employers of labour, mopping up the pool of overwhelming unemployment. If the government fails in their dealings to give them a stage to act, now they create one.
An inclusive world…
Our world is evolving and is becoming more inclusive. Tolerance in the room will help. It is the individual who is not interested in his fellow men who has the greatest difficulties in life and provides the greatest injury to others. It is from among such individuals that all human failures spring. Remember, every child has the right to live in an inclusive world. To a better world, void of seclusion and a freer future lacking in ignominies! Voila!
