ESLF CALLS FOR ENABLING ENVIRONMENT TO AID PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES.

All families and organisations should ensure that, at least, one of its members receives required training in sign language to be able to communicate effectively with some categories of Persons with Disabilities to better appreciate their plight, dreams and aspirations in life.

Desk Officer, Persons With Disabilities (PWDs) at the Eunice Spring of Life Foundation (ESLF), Philomena Tyoban, made this call on “World Of Possibilities”, a Radio Benue Makurdi live audience participatory programme, which aims at reducing stigmatisation and building a world of possibilities around persons with disabilities.

Tyoban who stressed the need for families and the society to ensure inclusiveness for PWDs, said the specialized sign language training would enable organisations such as the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) to communicate the law effectively to hearing-impaired persons who might have violated traffic regulations. She added that such training would help hospitals maintain confidentiality of the health status of patients with special needs and help all organisations relate better with their clients that have special-needs.

The ESLF Desk Officer, explained that conditions for disabilities are caused by certain social, structural and environmental factors such as buildings that are constructed without access ramps thereby hindering the movement of PWDs and worsening their plight. She urged people to ensure more disability-friendly environment which would not inhibit the operations of persons with special needs.

The Sign Language expert called on parents to accept their children and set the right pace for the larger society to follow suit and cautioned people to desist from derogatory use of words like ‘disabled’ to describe a PWD.

Lending her voice, another participant at the programme and Deputy Director Benue State Ministry of Education, Victoria Apam who is visually impaired disclosed that a new paradigm shift recommends use of the name “Persons With Special Needs” (as against “Persons With Disabilities”) to remove any iota of derogatory description. She prescribed that such persons be provided the right gadgets like laptops and functional softwares to complement their impairment and eliminate stumbling blocks that would hinder them from achieving their goals in life.

While the discussants were unanimous that discrimination at the home front remains one of the biggest challenges facing PWDs, they lamented the fact that qualified ones face discrimination during employment and are left to roam the street despite their qualification.

As the world commemorates this year’s World Humanitarian Day, ESLF calls for more conducive environment for PWDs who are among the several vulnerable groups the Foundation is, not only concerned about, but caters for in accomplishing its mission as a humanitarian organisation.