The Problems of Living with Disability in Nigeria

Abstract

Disabled persons like the able have certain peculiar qualities that are innate. Most of them are trainable. Therefore, with proper care and support from the government and members of the civil society, their talents can be fully harnessed to reduce their dependency and promote their economic and social development. But there are bottle-necks on the way to alleviating the suffering of these people and improving their living conditions. This paper examines the problems of living with disability in Nigeria and focuses its attention on the multiple problems faced by disabled persons and their significant others with a view to understanding their negative experiences of living with disability. Documentary source was used to collect the data for this paper. Most of the materials used were sourced from the library, internet and the personal collections of individuals. The chosen theoretical framework for the paper is the Medical Model of and the Social Model of disability. The paper pointed out that disable persons suffer and experience discrimination by the government and most members of the society in which they live. Majority of them have negative experiences with respect to employment, proper training, sustainable and dependable empowerment, exclusion from social interaction and participation in decision making on issues that affect their lives such as lack of access to public facilities. The paper argued that the absence of effective laws for the protection and promotion of their rights hamper proper and adequate funding of disabled organizations and the provision of a comprehensive welfare service to them, in particular, free health care services, among others. It is recommended that the Nigerian government should, as a matter of urgency, ensure the signing of the Disability Bill into law and also consider the provision of welfare and social security services to disabled persons as a priority. There is the need to change the negative attitude and perception of the public towards disabled persons into a positive one through education and enlightenment campaigns.

Keywords: Disability, Discrimination, Stigma, Disability bill, Empowerment.