By Bose Adelaja

Physically challenged Adebukola is a case study in determination to succeed.

He is visually impaired   from birth but his dream is to impact positively on the lives of children. His slogan is, “every child is a genius if given the right focus” .. Adebukola Adebayo is a role model to many students, no wonder they enjoy staying around him. Looking at the ways he manifests the various gifts in him, one might find it difficult to belief that the forty-year old is physically challenged. Born in Lagos Island, the last born in the family of seven has spent a tangible part of his life in the classroom.

The father of three and a lecturer at Adeniran Ogunsanya Centre for Outreach programme is also at the helm of affairs of Political and Administrative Resource Centre, P ARC. Ironically, his parents are not educated but they understood what it means to be physically challenged. So, when they gave birth to one, they played a key role in helping their visually impaired son to actualise his dream.

Speaking with Sunday Vanguard, Adebayo gave kudos to his parents for helpinghim this far.” My parents really stood by me, unlike some parents who come up with discrimination or stigma. Fortunately I was able to attend some of the best schools around. I attended Kings College, and I am a master’s degree holder from University of Lagos coupled with other professional programmes”, he said.

Growing up has been fun, except that one could not do some things because we live in a colossal society. You still feel that degree of hostility and measure of exclusiveness or discrimination as you grow up, be it in school, at work, on the road and many other places or while trying to move around. Even where you live, you still face some challenges due to lack of proper orientation, knowledge about disability among the populace, so you cannot really fulfill that aspect of it, however, growing up was full of fun and I enjoyed every bit of it.”

Challenges
According to Adebukola, persons with disabilities face a lot of challenges, one of which is the pedestrian bridge which are not properly built for their conveniences. “Also, Nigerians roads are not marked in a way that the visually impaired can make use of. We have open drainage here and there and the pedestrians bridges are not marked with physical signs that a blind person can use.

There are no audible traffic control systems on our roads which makes it difficult for many of us to identify some road signs”, he said. “This is necessary so that a physically impaired person will not go against the road signs. More so, the attitude of road users like pedestrians, motorists and commuters might make one to misbehave on the road. All these are some of the harrowing experiences one comes across on daily basis. However, through intelligent work and familiarity, one has been able to adapt to the environment.

Street Begging

He bemoaned the social problems as a result of poverty in the land, saying many physically challenged persons do not have access to quality education, because education, especially for the visually impaired, is ten times costlier than for the able bodied and a lot of them cannot afford this. “Scholarship is not easily accessible in Nigeria, so begging becomes the last resort to many people that are physically challenged. “The social system encourages begging because it does not give equal opportunities to Nigerians and this robs many people of a lot of opportunities. I have travelled to countries like United Kingdom, Mexico, Brazil, South Africa and there are beggars there.

What makes the difference is that they are not as many as we have in Nigeria. Government at all levels should introduce programmes that can eradicate poverty. “We heard that the Federal Government is trying to organise social security for its citizens. Government should domesticate this idea and create opportunities capable of eradicating poverty. It is true that  education is free in some states but how free is it to persons with disabilities? Free education is more than provision of free exercise books and writing materials. Education should be accessible to all. Beggars will continue to increase as long as there is no improvement in our social system.”

Words for government
The government, at the various tiers, Adebukola stated, is working to some extent. However, he pointed out that there are bills without implementation, explaining that government should not stop at legislation but progress to sustainable policies. It must engage itself in implementing community policies that will encourage persons with disabilities because he who wears the shoe knows where it pinches him most. Policies should be shaped in a way that it will address their problems appropriately without imposing such ideas on them.

“The government should have a special adviser on matters of disabilities. Once this is done, other social measures will be instituted to take care of matters arising. A lot of issues need to be addressed, issues of health, roads, education, accessibility to infrastructure, welfare and so many others. But all these must start from the legislative point of view. Once there is legal empowerment, there will be something to build policies on”.