By Leonard Okachie
The Abia State Commission for the Welfare of the Disabled Persons has urged persons with disabilities (PWDs) to scale up their support in creating awareness and sensitisation on disability issues in their communities.
The commission’s chairman, Mr David Anyaele, gave the advice during a townhall meeting with PWDs in Bende Local Government Area (LGA).
He admonished them to be strong and courageous, even in the face of hateful treatment from their community leaders, traditional institutions and the general public because of their disabilities.
Anyaele, who doubled as Special Assistant to the Governor on Disability Matters, advised the PWDs to take steps to understand disability issues so as to do proper sensitisation in their communities.
He said that one of the objectives of the meeting was to examine the extent of participation and inclusion of PWDs in governance in the LGA.
He said: “Nobody will do it for us, we are the ones to do it for ourselves and we can only do that if we are knowledgeable about disability issues.
“If anybody suffers any form of discrimination or harmful practices, the person should report to the LGA chairman and commission.
“We will take steps by taking the appropriate instruments of the state to retrace issues of abuse, recover whatever that belongs to the person that was taken away within the community.”
Anyaele decried isolation and stigmitisation of PWDs in rural communities of the LGA, promising that the commission would continue to fight for their rights.
He said that the commission had already held similar meetings in five LGAs and would visit the remaining 12, saying “we are cataloguing the peculiarities of PWDs in all the LGAs”.
Earlier, Mr John Okoronkwo, the Chairman of Joint National Association of Persons with Disabilities, Bende LGA Chapter, listed discrimination, rejection, unemployment, and inaccessibility, among numerous challenges faced by members.
In a remark, the LGA Chairman, Mr Bassey Uwabunkonye, expressed happiness over the meeting and promised to ensure an inclusive governance in the area.
“The door has opened for us to include them in whatever we want to do, especially budgeting.
“Their major demand in this meeting is inclusive governance, which we have started and this interaction will continue,” Uwabunkonye said.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that participants were drawn from the disability clusters, including the blind, physically challenged, spinal chord, intellectual and others. (NAN)
