NAN-H-102
Disabilities
By Kate Obande/ Jessica Dogo
Abuja, March 8, 2017 (NAN)Ms. Catherine Edeh, Human Rights Activist for Women Living with Disabilities has called for an all-inclusive education system to cater for the needs of women living with disabilities.
Edeh, who is also the Chief Executive Officer, Voice of the Disabled, an NGO, made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Wednesday in Abuja.
She said that an all-inclusive education system would help to sensitise Nigerians to the needs of persons living with disabilities and enhance the learning of sign language in schools for effective interactions.
The activist, who has hearing and speaking impairment, expressed regret that women with disabilities were the most marginalised in the society.
“In Nigeria, how many schools are inclusive, I am from south-east but I schooled in the north and the west because our education is not inclusive.
“I had to move very far to school, journeying to school was a very big challenge for me, we need support from the government and people around us should stop discriminating and stigmatising us to ease our problems.’’
According to her, there is no law to safeguard the rights of persons living with disabilities to access their environment easily.
She said that there was urgent need for interpreters to be trained and deployed to hospitals to address the communication challenge faced by patients with disabilities.
“We are women living with disabilities.When we get pregnant and need ante-natal care how will you interact with your doctor at the hospital without an interpreter.
“Interpreters should be deployed to our various hospitals and other public service outlets to ease the communication challenge.’’(NAN)
KTE/JEZ/OSA/MO
===========Edited by Shittu Obassa/Morayo Omolade