Debola DanielNigeria is one of the most unjust countries for people living with disabilities, the son of Mr. Gbenga Daniel, the former governor of Ogun state, lamented on Thursday.
“It is unacceptable that most schools in Nigeria are inaccessible. It is unacceptable that road side pavements are not fit for wheelchairs. It is unacceptable that Shell and other multinationals adhere to strict disability codes in the US and UK but are unable to carry this same principles to Nigeria,” said Mr. Adebola Daniel, who became confined to a wheelchair himself at age five after he was diagnosed with paraplegia, a rare condition with no medical clarity.
In a statement sent to TheSimonAtebaNews, he said he had set up a foundation for the physically challenged Nigerians to seek not just equity but to challenge the mindset of the average Nigerian.
He reiterated the need to end discrimination against people living with disabilities in the country, saying that they are looked at with pity and are associated with poverty.
Drawing from his own experience, Mr. Adebola Daniel recalled that “growing up in Nigeria, I unconsciously associated disability to poverty and crime due to amputated beggars on the streets mostly as a result of Sharia Law practiced in the North”.
Debola Daniel
“This was general opinion of most Nigerians in my social circle as a child.
“Having myself become physically challenged, I was exposed to the stigma and assumptions that came with being ‘disabled’.
“All of a sudden, I was looked at with pity, with judgement and sometimes with resentment by my fellow countrymen. As I became an adult, I began to realise that the onus was on me to make something of my self and create my life and future the way I envision it. My future was, and would always be in my own hands.”
With a Masters’ degree in Mechanical Engineering from the prestigious University College London (UCL), he is an inspirational speaker with TEDx Talk and a founder of the African Youth Initiative.
“I see a lack of integration and it saddens me knowing that there is a young disabled Nigerian out there that has the capability to achieve what I have achieved and even surpass me but regrettably, he/she is not being given the adequate support from government and the society”.
According to him, the Debola Daniel Foundation will not be a charity organisation that gives out wheelchairs and crutches to the less privileged, rather, it will challenge government to think of disabilities when formulating policies l, especially in Education, Employment and Development.
“At the moment, the foundation is working on a social media campaign with information, statistics and policies we support under the hashtag #DisabledNotUnable. A second segment titled #MyStory is being developed too, where the foundation celebrates disabled citizens who have decided that disability is not the end but just a different path. These people have decided to live life rather than be idle”.