- ED FOPWD Mrs. Christy Orduh (left), graduating students: Opeyemi Davis and Kehinde Awolola, Chairperson of the occasion and Director, Estaport Schools, Mrs. Abiola Awote, and FOPWD Board member, Dr. Henry Ationu, with students of Estaport Schools at the ceremony in Lagos…Thursday
By Anthony Nwachukwu
The First Lady of Lagos State, Dr. (Mrs.) Claudiana Ibijoke Sanwo-Olu, has called for support and sponsorship of people living with disabilities to enable them live their lives in full, free from societal isolation.
Mrs. Sanwo-Olu, represented by a member of the Committee of Wives of Lagos Government Officials, Mrs. Omolara Eniayewun, spoke as the special guest at the graduation ceremony organised by the non-governmental Friends of People with Disabilities (FOPWD) in Lagos Thursday.
According to her, “on a sustainable basis, we must invest in promoting the rights, empowerment and social inclusion of persons with disabilities, and I believe this can be achieved through active collaboration and support of various stakeholders.”
She applauded FOPWD for “promoting and supporting people with disabilities, while also initiating various empowerment programmes for them to showcase their abilities.”
Noting that the society “has realised that physical disability is not inability and therefore no one should be incapacitated from achieving something positive in life,” she insisted that all persons living with physical disabilities have special skills and talents.
Therefore, they must be provided with the enabling environment to realise their full potential in all spheres of human endeavour, she said, adding: “The place of innovation in fostering an accessible and equitable world, especially for physically challenged persons, cannot be downplayed.”
Chairman of occasion and Director, Estaport Schools, Mrs. Abiola Awote, commended the foundation for its doggedness, regretting that people with disabilities were often abandoned, but that she would project the academy to friends and organisations looking for such avenues to impact the society.
Excited at the fishes, foot wears and fabrics exhibited at the ceremony, all of which were made by the pupils, Awote noted that the graduands were no more with disabilities and should turn their skills and potentials into fortunes.
Earlier, the founder and Executive Director of the charity organisation, Mrs. Aku Christy Orduh, commended the graduands, Opeyemi Davis (from shoe-making section) and Kehinde Awolola (from fish farming) for their focus and commitment to the two-year empowerment programme.
You “have conquered disability by the skills you have acquired and have no reason to depend on others or parents every day,” she told them. “With your skills, you can establish fish farm and shoe-making business respectively. We are here for consultation and advice whenever you need them.”
According to Orduh, the foundation’s objective for the empowerment and talent development for youths with disabilities remained to make them valued and useful adults in the society by getting “future generations to accommodate, communicate, work and live together with people living with disabilities.
“In our centre here, this idea is practiced and we have a track record of our ex-students who have been employed and some who have established their own businesses.
“Today we present certificates to our students who have proved that they are able – Opeyemi Davis and Kehinde Awolola. We also work towards getting every child from primary and secondary school levels to pass out with basic knowledge of sign language.”
Urging the general public to give them due attention, she explained that “children and people with hearing and speech impairments have complex problem that cannot be seen or detected at a glance.”
Unlike other disabilities that are easily seen and helped, and who can hear, talk and can ask/shout for help when needed, “the hearing and speech-impaired group are very healthy and complete on the outside but are cut off from the world of hearing and speaking and cannot even shout or seek help when the need arises.
“Even when they are empowered, establishing in their businesses does not come easy because customers do not know their language. Also, employing them is mainly by establishments for the hearing and speech-impaired.”
Therefore, “they are more of isolated group than the others but they are very hardworking, resourceful and productive. Yet, customers keep off because they do not know their language.
“For these reasons and from our experience over the years, we have taken to spreading sign language in schools for children who hear and talk in order to catch them young.”
The foundation called for sponsorship to raise “Barrier Breakers” and “Change Makers” who communicate with peers and friends with hearing and speech impairment, using the “Sponsor A Sign Language Class” campaign to push back the frontiers of societal isolation.
“We seek sponsorship and support for training, we also look forward to business in our fish farm or other business sectors that deal with sustainability to enable us grow and move well,” Orduh said.
