Friday, December 3, 2021, was celebrated worldwide as International Day for Persons with Disabilities.
To mark the day, Hope Inspired Foundation for Women and Youths, HIFWY, a non-governmental organization in Nigeria, with funding from Disability Rights Fund, organized a Media Roundtable in Lagos to discuss how best to improve sexuality education and empowerment for women and the girl child in the country.
In partnership with the NGO were: Journalists Against AIDS, JAAIDS, Lagos State Office of Disability, LASODA, and The Joint National Association of Persons with Disability, JONAPWD.
Speaking on the Project Title: ‘Improving Sexuality Education for the Empowerment of Women and Girls with Disability in Lagos’, Janet Olarenwaju, Executive Director of HIFWY said that the objective of the roundtable was to explore ways of providing a platform for the promotion of the wellbeing and protection of the rights of young women, girls and youths particularly those with disabilities through education, empowerment and advocacy.
What is required according to her is to enable them to thrive and make meaningful contributions to society. In her submission, Adebimpe Lawal, Program Manager of the HIFWY spoke on the root causes and impact of lack of sexuality education on people with disabilities and how best to improve it.
She lamented that it is regrettable to note that in Nigeria today, most people with disabilities are not able to access health care, education, employment, and participation in leadership positions at community, state and federal levels.
The Program Manager noted that most women and girls with disabilities are raped, tortured, dehumanized and treated as unwanted members of society by their family members, the public and society.
She stated that globally, there are one billion disabled persons, while Nigeria has 25million people with disabilities, even as 13 million of these numbers are being stigmatized and humiliated daily by those who ought to show them empathy instead of pity.
“In Nigeria, sexuality is still a taboo topic due to ignorance, cultural and religious believes and when it concerns a person with a disability, the barriers compound more with lack of capacity and adequate knowledge to provide disability-inclusive sexuality education by parents, caregivers, teachers and educators.
Theophilus Odaudu, Program Manager, Disability Rights Fund said that HIFWY is implementing a one-year project which started in September 2021 titled “Improving Sexuality Education for Women and Girls with Disability” in Lagos, which is expected to spread over the tie to other parts of the federation.
However, the organizers appealed to the media as the mouthpiece and the voice of the people to partner with the NGO in creating public awareness through publications in order to ensure that people with disabilities are not regarded as outcasts even in their own country, saying this is capable of driving some of them to commit suicide.
Some journalists who spoke at the media roundtable suggested that HIFWY should carry the conventional and social media along in drawing up a long-term road map that could address the issues raised.
