According to IFA, people with disabilities in Nigeria lack the digital skills necessary to engage in gainful employment

Don advocates for special recognition for people with disabilities in higher education

The Inclusive Friends Association (IFA) has revealed that the majority of people with disabilities (PWDs) in Nigeria do not have digital skills that meet today’s workspace requirements.

The non-profit organization said that in addition to fighting discrimination and stigmatization of people with disabilities in the country, there is a need for an inclusive society in which people with disabilities, regardless of physical limitations, can contribute productively.

This happened when Professor Bolanle Olawuyi of the Department of Social Sciences Education, University of Ilorin (UNILORIN) called for the inclusion of special education in general studies in tertiary institutions.

IFA Program Officer, Tracy Onabis, expressed this concern during a two-day digital literacy training for persons with disabilities, organized by the association with the support of the Disability Rights Fund in Abuja.

Onabis said the workshop, which included training on various digital skills for people with disabilities across the country, would have a significant impact on many people with disabilities who had lost hope of finding a better job.

Skills include email and digital marketing, copywriting and software presentation. Stressing on the need to accommodate people with disabilities in every sector, she said these are people who also have dreams and aspirations but have withdrawn from work due to physical challenges.

She maintained that equipping people with disabilities with digital skills will increase their employability and productivity, as well as enable them to achieve financial independence.

“Looking at the technological advances in the world, we all see that the world is now a global village where you can be in a place not too far away but have access to the Internet and work for an organization elsewhere.

“So we did a study and realized there were a lot of gaps in the disability community. The gaps are that people with disabilities do not have the digital skills that would enable them to gain employment or be productive in their current places of employment,” she added.

Capacity building workshops on digital skills are the association’s way of bridging the gap. She said 50 participants took part in the first batch of training and another 50 people are expected to participate in the second batch.

DELIVERING UNILORIN’s 255th inaugural lecture titled ‘Disabled People and Celebrating Life Beyond Borders’ held over the weekend, the don suggested that it would help society become aware of and appreciate its disabled counterparts and the causes of disability.

Olawuyi tasked administrators in the country’s education sector to persuade the government to ensure that every teacher training program must include special education.

She said that people with disabilities can be useful to society only when social stigmas and barriers associated with them are removed. She said: “If social constraints and barriers are removed from the path of disabled people, they will be able to make a greater contribution to the development of the country, wherever they are.

“I look forward to reorienting the sign language curriculum to include the different dimensions of language to enable people with hearing impairments to function in any country.”

Calling for the hiring of more professionals who can help provide inclusive education for people with disabilities, she urged society to be aware of the causes of disabilities and take precautions.