By: Jagun Quareeb Alabi
Living with a disability in Nigeria means facing two battles, one with the body and another with society. Many children cannot attend school because classrooms lack ramps. Some adults cannot find jobs because employers don’t believe in them. Too often, people with disabilities are left out.
What Inclusion Means
Inclusion is simple. It is about making sure everyone belongs, which includes installing ramps in schools, training teachers to support children with special needs, and ensuring that public spaces such as buses, churches, and markets are accessible to all. It is about ensuring that everyone belongs, which includes installing ramps in schools, training teachers to support children with special needs, and ensuring that public spaces such as buses, churches, and markets are accessible to all.
When people with disabilities are included, they stop being seen as burdens. They develop into friends, leaders, employees, students, and contributors.
The Importance of Advocacy
Advocacy is about raising our voices so that people with disabilities are heard, seen and supported. Nigeria signed the Discrimination Against Persons with Disabilities Act (2018), but many people don’t know about it, and others ignore it. This is why advocacy is key. We must remind leaders, schools, and communities that every Nigerian, no matter how strong or weak, on foot or on wheels, deserves respect.
Stories of Change
In many families, we have seen how simple opportunities like a scholarship, a wheelchair, or an inclusive classroom can transform the life of a child with muscular dystrophy. Education restores confidence. Inclusion brings hope. That is what true change looks like. It restores confidence and hope.
What We Can Do
Everyone has a role to play: speak with respect, not pity. Encourage inclusivity in schools and workplaces. Support organizations that offer wheelchairs, ramps, or scholarships.
A Better Nigeria
Disability is not inability. What disables people is neglect, silence, and exclusion. A truly better Nigeria is one where no child is denied education because of a staircase, no adult is denied dignity because of a wheelchair, and no citizen is made invisible because of a difference.
Change does not begin with policies, but with me and you. Speak up when you notice exclusion. Demand accessibility in schools, workplaces, and public spaces. Donate to organizations that help people with disabilities. Please share these stories. Confront stigma wherever it appears.
If we choose empathy over indifference and action over silence, Nigeria can become a country where everyone is welcome. Every single voice is important. Every action matters. The time to take action is now.
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