From Henry Ibya, Makurdi
People With Disability, PWDs, in Benue State have advocated for sign language interpreters in public places, including police stations, courts and hospitals, to ensure equal access for the deaf.
The state cluster head, Nigeria Association of the Deaf, Ezekiel Eladoga made the demand during a stakeholders engagement meeting organised by the Nigeria Women Trust Fund in Makurdi, lamented the communication difficulties faced by the deaf in hospitals, police stations among other public places, urging Governments and other organisations to address the challenge.
He also suggested inclusion of sign language interpreters contained in in the disability law to enable both the private and public institution employ interpreters as a way of giving the deaf a sense of belonging.
In her remarks, programme coordinator, Nigeria Women Trust Fund, Daniel Ogabiela explained that the D-RAPID project meeting with stakeholders is to strategise on ways to support the domestication and implementation of the Disability Rights Act in Benue State.
He said the stakeholders engagement would help build shared understanding on the domestication and implementation of the law, what needed to be added in the law or removed.
“As you can see, we are just noticing what the deaf faces difficulties in hospitals and other places, and there are some public and private places that can not be access by persons with disabilities all of these has to be taken into cognizance through engagement of this kind”, Ogabiela said
She said the meeting was the organisations first engagement in the state, expressing appreciation to all the stakeholders for being in attendance and assured that they would brainstorm on suggestions made going forward for them to become a reality.
In a presentation on Barriers and opportunities for disability inclusion, Barr.Ori Onum lamented that most public organisations were not heeding to the disability inclusion rights by including accessibility of persons with disabilities in the design of their buildings, as well as failure to allocate five percent of their employment to persons with special needs, arguing that there is ability in every disability.
In a remark, principal special assistant to the Benue State governor on Persons With Special Needs, Bem Anshe expressed appreciation to Governor Hyacinth Alia for the attention given to the disability community, but appealed that government should consider the establishment of disability commission in the state.
