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By Favour Odanye
A non-profit organization, Community Advancement Initiative For Self-Reliance, CAI4SR has disclosed that creating schools for people with disabilities encourages segregation and undermines their sense of belonging.
Speaking with newsmen after a training session in Osogbo recently, CAI4SR’s Executive Director, Eni Ayeni counselled the government to allow inclusive education by adapting mainstream schools with children with disabilities.
According to her, global advocacy for disability rights is anchored on inclusion, stressing that persons with disabilities thrive better in societies where barriers are removed rather than in environments where they are secluded.
Recalling a project undertaken by CAI4SR to promote inclusion for children with disabilities, Ayeni noted that the existing schools can be adjusted to accommodate them through what she described as “reasonable adjustments,” such as ramps, and accessible toilets.
“We already have schools on the ground, let’s make what we call reasonable adjustments so that children with disabilities can equally learn with children without disabilities. By doing that, you are giving them a sense of belonging”, she said.
She added that establishing special schools for children with disabilities will only reinforce stereotypes and deepen segregation.
In the same vein, she lauded the domestication of the Osun State Persons With Disability Law but urged for its implementation, stressing that without practical enforcement, the law would remain “only on paper”
Also speaking, a lawyer with the Justice Development and Peacemaker Center, Veronica Onoja, emphasized that the government has a critical role to play in ensuring the implementation of the policy.
Onoja identified lack of awareness and poor funding as major obstacles to the enforcement of the Osun State Disability Law, noting that many citizens were unaware of its existence and therefore unable to demand its implementation.
“If people do not know there is a law protecting persons with disabilities, they cannot push for its implementation”, Onoja said.
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