World disability day: NGO organizes seminar to sensitise on disability law

Hope for the Village Child Foundation (HVCF), a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO), in collaboration with TLM/Liliane fond, has organised a seminar to interpret a recently-passed state law as the way forward for people living with disability in Kaduna state.

Organised as part of activities marking the World Disability Day, the disability bill was recently passed by the state House of Assembly and assented to by the Executive Governor of the state, Malam Nasir El-Rufai.

In an interview shortly after the programme, Sister Juliana Ekwanya, Deputy Director of (HVCF), called on People with disability to be proud of who they were as God’s special creation.

She said they should find joy in using some of their God given talent to make a difference in the society.

“They should not live in pity or see themselves as people that are not loved by God, he has created everyone uniquely” she said.

She noted that they should see the avenue presented to them to develop themselves and also feel comfortable where they find themselves.

According to her, HVCF was working toward giving hope to those who, the world saw as nothing good come out of them.

On his part, Mr Michael Ogundele, HVCF head of unit, special needs, said the programme was organized to commemorate the World Disability Day and to also interpret the Kaduna disability law and how to access it.

He said the disability bill had been passed into law, and yet PLWDs found it difficult to access it due to lack of knowledge of what the law stood for.

“We take it upon ourselves to break it down and what they should do, and also to interpret to the level they can understand, if anything happens to them and where they should go to get their rights”, he said.

Barr Grace Auta, while calling on the PLWDs not to lose hope, irrespective of challenges they faced, said that with the passage of the law their was succour for them.

She added that so many of their rights that had been violated would be addressed, adding that society also needed enlightenment on how to treat people living with disability .

Auta also noted that while there were so many complaints from the PLWDs on how they were being unfairly treated in the society, the law sought to address their major challenges through the state disability Board.

“To collaborate with relevant ministries and parastatals or corporate bodies for the issuance of directives in designing buildings to make it accessible and usable to PLWDs.”

She said the disability board would be saddled with the responsibility to Investigate and make necessary referrals to relevant authority for sanction or enforcement.

According to her, the board would also perform other functions as maybe necessary to uplift the general standard of PLWDs and effective implementation of the law.

While calling for more advocacy for people to know the consequences of violating the right of PLWDs, the state government should ensure speedy implementation of the law because implementation had always been a challenge.