OVERCOMING EDUCATIONAL BARRIERS: FAWE NIGERIA’S APRROACH TO DISABILITY INCLUSION

Today, over one billion people worldwide experience some form of disability, and the disability global prevalence rate is greater for women than men. This reality is gradually opening up a burden of concerns among stakeholders and key actors in the civil society space on the paradox of achieving gender equality without inclusion and mainstreaming of women with disability.

According to Global gender gap report, it will take 131 years to achieve gender equality.

According to projections, it will take 131 years to achieve gender equality. Developing economies, most especially in sub-Saharan Africa like Nigeria, might need to double up measures to align with these important aspirations. By focusing on interventions around mitigating poverty and extreme marginalization for vulnerable groups.

It is believed that poverty and marginalization are compounded when gender and disability intersect. The most important questions begging for an answer remain: “How do we really make the SDG count for women and girls with disabilities?”

It is important to identify with this reality, that women with disabilities face multiple barriers to realizing their rights due to widespread discrimination, stereotyping, and social stigma. Many times, they are left out of the social contract of leaving no one behind.

This was a significant standpoint for us at the Forum for African Women Educationalists Nigeria as we examine the need to expand commitment to diversity, inclusion, and belonging in core program initiative in order to attain the important aspirations of the universal value that is the central, transformative promise of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

As part of a key FAWE National program initiative for 2024, the inclusion of persons with disabilities in core program initiatives across different disability clusters (Physical Cluster & Sensory (The Deaf cluster)) has taken the center burner. This is also strategically opening up conversation around programming for children with disabilities, most especially the girl child. This inclusive model has also influenced our programming methodology in terms of accessibility for PWDs and the use of sign language interpreters where necessary.

Embracing this inclusive model is inline with our human-centric model to further include persons with disability in our program target across the national structure. This alone can significantly affect both girls with disability and children of women with disability in their educational attainment.

This calls for embrace of global best practices that consolidate their human rights while mainstreaming them into key program designs:

• Enhancing accessibility
• Facilitating Communication Utilizing sign language interpreters in programs
• Promoting disability pride language in state Chapters
• Encouraging chapters to Respect their human rights while combating Ableism (Ableism can take different forms, like pity. You might feel sorry for someone with a disability because you falsely assume they can’t fully enjoy or participate in life OR even begin with the failure to acknowledge the different types of disabilities people can experience.)
• Focus on their ability and carry them along at all levels
• Prioritizing dialogue while accurately determining their needs.
• Proactively preparing for the provision of assistive devices enables individuals with disabilities to fully engage in our programs and activities, removing barriers to participation and promoting independence.

The strategic effort also covers advocacy around making women and girls with disabilities count by closing data gaps and not leaving out disability data in surveys and programs. This Initiative is enshrined on the principle according to the World Bank that “Women with disabilities are largely absent from official statistics and surveys: data on persons with disabilities is rarely disaggregated by gender, and data on gender rarely specifies disabilities.”

Our commitment to diversity, inclusion, and belonging is not just a moral imperative but a strategic necessity. FAWE Nigeria is not only championing the rights of persons with disabilities but also paving the way for their meaningful participation and contribution to society.

We urge stakeholders and partners to join us on this journey towards a more equitable and inclusive future.

www.fawenigeria.org.ng