An Urgent Call For Establishment Of Fully Resourced NBA Disability Law Section

By Dr. Raphael Christopher

Over 25 Million Nigerians are estimated to be disabled according
to The World Health Organisation in their 2011 World disability
Report.

This is a sizeable chunk of our population estimated population
of Nigeria of 211 million according to the latest UN data. This
means that just over 11.5% of all Nigerians have a disability of
some sort.

This analysis has a very high political, planning and financial
implications for government projects everywhere in Nigeria and I
will examine these in future articles to enable us see that our
disabled bethren have an equal stake in the greatness of our
country just like our able-bodied bethren and are equally blessed
with talents able to add great value to every area of Nigeria’s
life, legal, political and economic prosperity.

Before we go on, let us make sure we understand what disability
is taken to mean in the context of this article and what
relationship does Mephibosheth sit at my table have to this
article?

Generally, a disability means a permanent injury, illness, or
physical or mental condition that operates to limit the ways an
affected person can live their life everyday of their lives however
disability refers to the permanent condition of being disabled.

Now, disability can be obvious and can equally be invisible to
an observer and is not limited to any one condition but covers a
wide spectrum of many differently occurring conditions with
different consequences led outcomes for the affected person(s)

Mephibosheth story is a heartbreaking story of a child of a
Prince who has a childhood incident that rendered him lame in both
feet. He suffered all manner of indignities until a friend of his
late father became King and invited the lame Mephiboseth to sit at
his table and have equality with the able bodied children of The
King.

Turning now to the Law. There are many disabled lawyers and
members of the NBA, who by the mere virtue of being lawyers may
have experienced discrimination and have fought against every odds
to qualify as Lawyers and members of the NBA and I take this moment
to recognise you and laud and applaud you for your doggedness and
salute your courage, steadfast, through the oppositions and
challenges that life and circumstances threw your way and still
does.

Well done.

Now the ethos of our NBA is to represent every strata of our
society and reflect every strata of society in its internal
committees and governance.

However, presently, the objective of an NBA representing all
lawyers is not yet achieved – until an NBA disability law section
is established.

Now, let’s step back from our analysis and get a bit of societal
context in which our NBA operates so we can better understand how
the NBA disability law section is sorely needed.

It is well known generally that our society has a negative
attitude towards issues of disability and the disabled. This
negative attitude can be easily seen in our behaviour towards
persons with disabilities.

Much research has shown that this attitude has come about and
persisted due to the lack of adequate education and information
regarding disability and its facts and conditions. Society has
not been presented with scientific analysis of disability so they
can understand that disabled people are normal people with
feelings, dreams but who are differently abled. And the presence of
a
disability does not mean that that individual should be written
off.

Take for instance, Alfred Einstein who is thought of as the
greatest scientist who ever lived. He was said to suffer from a
disability of Asperger’s syndrome. Take Leonardo Da Vinci, who is
thought of as the greatest painter, was said to suffer from
Dyslexia, ADHD and other learning disorders and attention
issues.

Let also consider this, The father of the present Queen
Elizabeth of England suffered from the disability of stuttering.
The current President of The United States sometimes has been known
to stutter but has that stopped him from being the Most Powerful
man on the earth?

No is the resounding answer! There are many Nigerians who are
disabled and who have done and achieved great things – a clear
example is the the Association of Lawyers with Disabilities in
Nigeria (ALDIN).

We need to change our mindset and become more inclusive across
every strata of society and make changes to accommodate people with
disabilities and enable access government services, medical help,
banking and buildings.

There is a lot to be done.

We may have been raised to think that disability is somehow bad
or wrong and therefore something or someone to be avoided which has
led to disability being greatly misunderstood and this has the
effect of eliciting fear, discomfort from people leading the people
with disabilities being shunned and ostracised by society because
generally people shun what they don’t understand and uncomfortable
with and this unfortunately means they go out of their way to avoid
contact with a person with a disability.

To provide balance, I must mention that significant strides have
been made in our Federal Government by it providing a legal
framework under which the rights of the disabled can be advocated,
flourish and be on par with able bodied Nigerians.

The Federal Government achieved this by ratifying The United
Nations Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities and
its associated protocols in 2007 and 2010 and promulgated them into
law by way of The Discrimination Against Persons with Disabilities
(Prohibition) Act 2018.

It is clear that this Act’s intentions and provisions are to
ensure persons with a disability are given rights to help pursue
inclusiveness practices to be part of every level of public life
and private life.

One of the noble ideal of Law is all are equal and the Rule of
Law should prevail in every aspect of public and private lives of
Nigerians and our institutions. We are to help the helpless and
defend those who cannot defend themselves.

Lawyers with Disabilities are by virtue of their experiences are
best placed to lead us in the objective of tackling discrimination
against the disabled under the relevant acts and enable us have a
NBA for all. Once, the NBA section has been established then they
can lead the drive to help our society come to the realisation that
disabled Nigerians are just like us and have worth just like us and
we have a duty to defend them and help them be treated fairer so
their amazing talents and abilities can be harnessed to create a
better NBA for all and a stronger, prosperous Nigeria of which we
all can be proud of.

So, like Mephibosheth who sat at David’s table, creation of a
NBA disability law section will enable our fellow lawyers with
disabilities have a happy ending by taking their rightful place at
the NBA table.

By Dr. Raphael Christopher

Over 25 Million Nigerians are estimated to be disabled according
to The World Health Organisation in their 2011 World disability
Report.

This is a sizeable chunk of our population estimated population
of Nigeria of 211 million according to the latest UN data. This
means that just over 11.5% of all Nigerians have a disability of
some sort.

This analysis has a very high political, planning and financial
implications for government projects everywhere in Nigeria and I
will examine these in future articles to enable us see that our
disabled bethren have an equal stake in the greatness of our
country just like our able-bodied bethren and are equally blessed
with talents able to add great value to every area of Nigeria’s
life, legal, political and economic prosperity.

Before we go on, let us make sure we understand what disability
is taken to mean in the context of this article and what
relationship does Mephibosheth sit at my table have to this
article?

Generally, a disability means a permanent injury, illness, or
physical or mental condition that operates to limit the ways an
affected person can live their life everyday of their lives however
disability refers to the permanent condition of being disabled.

Now, disability can be obvious and can equally be invisible to
an observer and is not limited to any one condition but covers a
wide spectrum of many differently occurring conditions with
different consequences led outcomes for the affected person(s)

Mephibosheth story is a heartbreaking story of a child of a
Prince who has a childhood incident that rendered him lame in both
feet. He suffered all manner of indignities until a friend of his
late father became King and invited the lame Mephiboseth to sit at
his table and have equality with the able bodied children of The
King.

Turning now to the Law. There are many disabled lawyers and
members of the NBA, who by the mere virtue of being lawyers may
have experienced discrimination and have fought against every odds
to qualify as Lawyers and members of the NBA and I take this moment
to recognise you and laud and applaud you for your doggedness and
salute your courage, steadfast, through the oppositions and
challenges that life and circumstances threw your way and still
does.

Well done.

Now the ethos of our NBA is to represent every strata of our
society and reflect every strata of society in its internal
committees and governance.

However, presently, the objective of an NBA representing all
lawyers is not yet achieved – until an NBA disability law section
is established.

Now, let’s step back from our analysis and get a bit of societal
context in which our NBA operates so we can better understand how
the NBA disability law section is sorely needed.

It is well known generally that our society has a negative
attitude towards issues of disability and the disabled. This
negative attitude can be easily seen in our behaviour towards
persons with disabilities.

Much research has shown that this attitude has come about and
persisted due to the lack of adequate education and information
regarding disability and its facts and conditions. Society has
not been presented with scientific analysis of disability so they
can understand that disabled people are normal people with
feelings, dreams but who are differently abled. And the presence of
a
disability does not mean that that individual should be written
off.

Take for instance, Alfred Einstein who is thought of as the
greatest scientist who ever lived. He was said to suffer from a
disability of Asperger’s syndrome. Take Leonardo Da Vinci, who is
thought of as the greatest painter, was said to suffer from
Dyslexia, ADHD and other learning disorders and attention
issues.

Let also consider this, The father of the present Queen
Elizabeth of England suffered from the disability of stuttering.
The current President of The United States sometimes has been known
to stutter but has that stopped him from being the Most Powerful
man on the earth?

No is the resounding answer! There are many Nigerians who are
disabled and who have done and achieved great things – a clear
example is the the Association of Lawyers with Disabilities in
Nigeria (ALDIN).

We need to change our mindset and become more inclusive across
every strata of society and make changes to accommodate people with
disabilities and enable access government services, medical help,
banking and buildings.

There is a lot to be done.

We may have been raised to think that disability is somehow bad
or wrong and therefore something or someone to be avoided which has
led to disability being greatly misunderstood and this has the
effect of eliciting fear, discomfort from people leading the people
with disabilities being shunned and ostracised by society because
generally people shun what they don’t understand and uncomfortable
with and this unfortunately means they go out of their way to avoid
contact with a person with a disability.

To provide balance, I must mention that significant strides have
been made in our Federal Government by it providing a legal
framework under which the rights of the disabled can be advocated,
flourish and be on par with able bodied Nigerians.

The Federal Government achieved this by ratifying The United
Nations Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities and
its associated protocols in 2007 and 2010 and promulgated them into
law by way of The Discrimination Against Persons with Disabilities
(Prohibition) Act 2018.

It is clear that this Act’s intentions and provisions are to
ensure persons with a disability are given rights to help pursue
inclusiveness practices to be part of every level of public life
and private life.

One of the noble ideal of Law is all are equal and the Rule of
Law should prevail in every aspect of public and private lives of
Nigerians and our institutions. We are to help the helpless and
defend those who cannot defend themselves.

Lawyers with Disabilities are by virtue of their experiences are
best placed to lead us in the objective of tackling discrimination
against the disabled under the relevant acts and enable us have a
NBA for all. Once, the NBA section has been established then they
can lead the drive to help our society come to the realisation that
disabled Nigerians are just like us and have worth just like us and
we have a duty to defend them and help them be treated fairer so
their amazing talents and abilities can be harnessed to create a
better NBA for all and a stronger, prosperous Nigeria of which we
all can be proud of.

So, like Mephibosheth who sat at David’s table, creation of a
NBA disability law section will enable our fellow lawyers with
disabilities have a happy ending by taking their rightful place at
the NBA table.