) A Gender and Disability Rights Advocate, Ms Oluwatomisin Adeyefa on Monday urged Nigerians to show unerstanding rather than pity to persons living with disabilities.
Adeyefa made the call in a telephone interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja.
She expressed worry that a large percentage of Nigerians still discriminated against persons living with disabilities.
According to her, sexual violence, discrimination, emotional and psychological abuse still persisted in the country.
The right advocate called for attitudinal change among the stakeholders to allow for an inclusive society for persons living with disabilities.
“How do you call persons with disabilities around you, some of them are called names like imbecile, and disabled among other demeaning names in local languages.
“All these names are dehumanising and demeaning, they are the leading causes of emotional and psychological distress among persons with disabilities.
“We are calling for an end to pity, and more of empathy for persons living with disabilities, they are human beings and deserve to be treated equally, we need to stop name-calling, body-shaming.’’
Adeyefa called for a change in government policies and programmes that discriminated against persons with disabilities, saying acceptance was key for this to happen.
She said the amplifying voices mantra in the disability field was aimed at increasing awareness to improve lives of persons living with disabilities. (NAN)
