The disabled in Nigeria get a rough deal

A nation’s greatness is measured by how it treats its weakest members.
– Mahatma Gandhi

Lizzie Velasquez
The motivational speaker Lizzie Velasquez made me cry yesterday. She spoke on TEDx AUSTIN WOMEN about herself. Lizzie is a woman with a rare syndrome who has not allowed her looks and perhaps her disabilities to stop her from achieving her goals. Velasquez has a condition so rare that only two other people in the world are known to have it. She is truly great and accepts her ‘gift’ thus; “God has blessed me with the greatest blessing of my life, which is my syndrome”.

She turns adversity into a blessing and does not wallow in self pity. She obtains strength from negativity and has marshalled resources and a strong family support to speak up against things like bullying. She has recently published her second book, Be Beautiful, Be You (2012), which advocates and informs people that appearance doesn’t matter and that one should love oneself for who one is.
Lizzie also says that you can and should use the negativities in your life especially the horribleness, meanness and bad behaviour, comments and activities from mean spirited people to act as your springboard and your guide to success. Use the negativities to strengthen you and propel you to succeed.
You should Google her and listen to her speech. ‘Brave starts here’, she says and I agree.

Dr Bodunrin Oki
Closer to home, I was recently opportune to be at the book launch, ‘DISABILITY’ by Dr Bodunrin Oki. Dr Oki is a philanthropist, medical doctor, Chief Medical Director in his own hospital, Businessman and entrepreneur extraordinaire in Badagry, Lagos State. Dr Oki and I went to medical school together and he has been disabled and wheel chair bound since the day I first met him. Despite the odds, he has achieved more than most and today is a respected surgeon and an Honorable member in his community. He is happily married with four wonderful children. Brave does not even begin to describe him.

Fake disability
My daughter is disabled. She goes to sleep at 4 am in the morning (social networking!) and wakes up at about 2 pm in the day to eat breakfast. She has been fired from every single job she has held because ‘they don’t like me’, and ‘they are all bitches’! Forget that she gets to work late every single day and is the first to leave, before the time is up. My daughter is disabled by laziness and the misplaced enthusiasm of youth. She thinks there is time in abundance and she can still achieve whatever she wants in the future, even without lifting a finger. I wish I could slap some sense into her! Or maybe we need a brain transplant.

You can be disabled by real problems as discussed above or have self imposed disability. Many people allow their circumstances, gender, other people’s opinions, colour, creed, economic status, physical appearance and even disease condition to define their life and act as the rock of Gibraltar on their shoulders. Weighing them down and completely destroying their life in abject self pity. Some have committed suicide because of disabilities.

Real Disability
Congenital disability is that which one is born with like that of Lizzie as discussed above. Nothing she could have done about it. Acquired disability is one which can befall any one of us at anytime due to illness, accidents and freakish acts of nature. Injuries from road traffic accidents can suddenly turn your life upside down and happens every day in Nigeria. Illnesses such as stroke can also cause significant disability leading to a productive member of the family/ society becoming destitute if care is not taken. Even, epilepsy and the social stigma attached have turned many people into hermits: disabled and incapacitated.

Broaden your horizon
The solution to the problem of the disabled is multi pronged. The disabled must first recognise their situation, assess the condition critically and then focus on what they have, not what they lack. Build on the assets, the positives and ignore the negatives. They must broaden their horizons and not let others limit their hopes and aspirations. Some people suggested that Lizzie was so ugly she should go and kill herself! These are the type of ‘animals’ to be avoided!

Government has a duty
Many of our hospitals, government offices, social establishments do not provide nor cater for the disabled. You can imagine that the disabled are completely invisible in Nigeria where even women are second class citizens. The roads are definitely not disabled friendly and many cannot have easy access to services. Children with disabilities such as Autism are branded as witches and nobody cares. There is no database or recognition of people with disabilities and they have no rights to education, health care, work or employment, communication or social empowerment in Nigeria.

What did Mahatma Ganghi say again?
NB: You can buy the book, ‘DISABILITY’ by Dr Bodunrin Oki, from OLA-OKI Medical Centre, Ibereko, Badagry (Phone: 07043355777 or email: [email protected]). Distributors and sponsors wanted nationwide.