Persons with disabilities decry discrimination

By INNOCENT ANABA

LAGOS – Persons with disabilities in the country have called on government at all levels to ensure that they are not discriminated against in employment and other social services.

Speaking at a two-day workshop on “the Discriminatory Ill-treatment of Persons with Disabilities in Nigeria,” weekend, in Lagos, by Legal Defence and Assistance Project, LEDAP, and Equal Rights Trust, ERT, in collaboration with Joint National Association of Persons with Disabilities, JONAPWD, they noted that they were constantly discriminated against in work and public places, while government had failed  in the provision of facilities that would make life easier for them.

According to them, they suffer physical and sexual voilence in the communities and homes; violent practices at the hands of traditional healers; severe forms of restraint and seclusion in institutions; subjected to harmful medical practices and failure on part of government to provide reasonable accommodation in detention settings, such as prisons.

National Coordinator of LEDAP, Mr. Chino Obiagwu, noted that “torture and ill-treatment of persons with disabilities in Nigeria was widespread, under-reported and often seen an acceptable or inevitable.

”Persons with disabilities are equally vulnerable and encounter specific difficulties in protecting their rights to be free from torture and ill-treatment. Their disability impacts upon their experiences of ill-treatment and they face particular hurdles in accessing redress,” he said.
He called on Nigerians to stop discriminating