OVERVIEW
Disabled people may form a minority of the population of any country. However, they are citizens, entitled to equal consideration in planning, employment, education, social amenities and other opportunities. Moreover, they are just as gifted as the rest of the population, and therefore equally capable of contributing to the political, social and economic life of the country.

A cursory glance at recent events will show a list of disabled people who have made great contributions to their country, including but not limited to:
- A deaf South African swimmer who won a silver medal in the 200 metres breast stroke event at the 2000 Sidney Olympics, Terrence Parkin;
- A blind US long distance runner who participated in the 1500 metres athletic competition at the same games, Marla Runyan;
- Several disabled engineers who have worked for major US government agencies, such as the National Aeronautic Space Agency, (NASA);
- A deaf member of the British parliament and House of Lords, Lord Ashley;
- A blind member of the British Parliament and minister, David Blunket;
- A US president who was disabled as a result of polio, President Roosevelt;
- Several blind musicians, the most notable of which are Stevie Wonder and Ray Charles.
These are only the tip of the iceberg, in terms of the contributions of disabled people in various countries, all over the world. As in all other countries of the world, Nigeria too has its share of people with disabilities. Generally, it is believed that about 10 percent of the population of each country is disabled. In developing countries, the percentages are likely to be higher, due to the greater incidents of preventable disabilities, caused by
- poverty,
- lack of awareness of preventative action,
- less access to timely medical intervention
- the fear of acknowledging disabled members of a household and
- the generally less reliable statistical information.

However, in Nigeria, disabled people have not been able to exert a proportional influence on their country. This is not due to a reduction in intellectual capacity, or an unwillingness to participate in national activities. It is due to the denial of opportunities and recognition. In work, in the families, and in the provision of social amenities, disabled people are routinely, but subconsciously denied the same access as other Nigerian citizens.

The questions this programme aims to address include:
- How can we prevent disabilities?
- How can we cope with disabled people and disability in general?
- Why is it, that despite the population of disabled people in Nigeria, we do not see sufficient numbers of them playing their full part in national and social development?
- How can disabled people be confident enough to play their full part in relevant socioeconomic activities?

TARGET
This programme is targeted at the youth, in the belief that they are the future of Nigeria. Most disabled people will admit that their best friends are those that have known them from childhood, when they played together, unconscious of differences. It is thus at the younger age that the right impressions can be created, and changes made. It is hoped that the right attitude, developed at a young age, will lead to major changes in policy and outlook, when participants have assumed decision making roles.

The programme will start with university students, and then extend forwards to up and coming professionals and downwards to the secondary and primary age groups. Our activities are also aimed at current decision makers, in government and industry, who have an immediate impact on the crucial issues of today. A change in their attitude will mean that they might employ deserving disabled people, fight for their rights or fund specific projects.

It is also aimed at disabled people, to give them a pride in their country, a confidence in their own abilities and an increased desire and ambition to succeed.

FOCUS AND PROJECT CONTENT

FOCUS
The focus of the programme will be:
- To introduce disabled and non-disabled people to each other;
- To examine the barriers that disabled people currently face;
- To encourage the discussion of creative approaches to tackling disability;
- To change the outlook on disability, from one which focuses on disability as a purely medical problem, to one which examines social barriers which prevent disabled people from fulfilling their potential;
- To examine what technology and ideas are available in other parts of the world, and compare with what obtains in Nigeria;
- To look at disabled people as equal in intellect, even if they lack the use of one or other of their senses;
- To go out into their communities and consider ways of putting what they have learned into practice;

PROJECT CONTENT
The project content will be divided into the following:
Models of disability: The models of disability course aims to make participants aware that their attitudes to disability is the beginning of a process which can shape complex interactions between disabled and non-disabled people. The course examines the three major perspectives of disability:
- The medical model, which looks at disability as a purely medical issue, to be treated or cured by medicine, or where that is impossible, by admission into a hospital, mental institution or rehabilitation centre;
- The religious model, which views disability as the result of sin, family curses or witchcraft. In this model, disabled people are either shunned for fear of contamination, kept away to avoid the shame of revealing a family secret, or ignored as unsavable.
- The social model which looks at disability in the social context of equality, equal provision of amenities, etc. This model examines disabled people, firstly as people, and envisions a world in which all people are considered because of what they can do or become, rather than what they are unable to achieve.

ACCESS
The aim of this course is to raise awareness of the barriers that prevent disabled people from accessing their society and environment. We aim to make people aware that with access, people have equality. Access is not limited to disability; for example, an illiterate person has no access to the wealth of material that educated people can enjoy. Similarly, a person without a driver’s license has no access to the wheels of a car.

In the case of a disabled person, the lack of access has severe implications. The major premise of the course is therefore that a person is not disabled by blindness or deafness, but by how much or how little access there is to the things sighted people see, or hearing people hear. The course will examine what barriers exist and how these have been solved. It will examine the needs of disabled people and the specific need for national statistical informationon disability. In some cases, people will discover how the solution of an access problem has had benefits for wider society. For example, the typewriter was invented as a means by which a blind person (The Countess Carolina Fantoni Da Fivizonno) could communicate with her sighted friend, the entrepreneur, Pellegrini Turri. Since then, it has become the tool of trade for journalists, writers and secretaries, and the typewriter keyboard was the basis of the modern computer. Other amazing discoveries are that
- industry now realises that a website which is accessible to blind people is a neater website.
- Scanners, which were originally designed for scanning photos and drawings into a computer have now become standard machines for blind people to scan books.
- A road that is free of open gutters is safer for blind people, but also for sighted people and motorists.
- People who speak clearly enough for a person who is hard of hearing will speak clearly enough for everybody.
- A paved road that is smooth enough for a wheelchair user will probably lead to fewer accidents for other pedestrians.
- Access is very easy, and does not always require huge investments. For example, a signature guide can be made for blind people, simply by cutting a hole in a rectangular cardboard.

At the end of the course, it is hoped that the participants will be better informed, and will go out, ensuring that disabled people have full access to their country.

The most high profile access is to technology, but access is a much broader topic. It covers
- access to the work environment,
- Access to transportation and other facilities,
- Access to books and information,
- Access to sports facilities, to games, including indoor games, such as chess monopoly and card games.

This course focuses on the medical issues around disability. There are several cases of avoidable or preventable disability. Most of the participants in the course will be preparing for a life of marriage and raising of their own children. It is important that, while focussing on the need for social inclusion of disabled people, we should also impress upon them the need to take the necessary action to prevent as much disability as possible. It will also develop the concept that disability is not always solely the fault of the disabled person.

This course will focus on:
- Diseases which can lead to disability, EG measles, polio, river blindness;
- Accidents which may lead to disability, e.g. road accidents. The inventor of Braille lost his sight at 3 years, when he accidentally put his father’s work instrument into his eye.
- Disability as a side-effect of medical intervention, such as surgery;

PRACTICAL EXPERIENCE AND SUSTAINABILITY
PRACTICAL EXPERIENCE
This aspect is aimed at giving participants a chance to see how disabled people live, work and move around. It is hoped that participants will gain a fuller knowledge of disability, and a practical understanding of the individual lives of a disabled person.

Participants will be encouraged to work with an organisation for disabled people, or with individual disabled people, on a voluntary basis. Over a period of time, they will be encouraged to compare notes with other participants in the programme, to analyze what they have found out, to find out how they could improve the lives of the individuals/organisations they work with etc.
SUSTAINABILITY
This programme will be run by experts, for the purpose of producing experts. On completion, each participant should be able to carry out one or more of the following:
- Access Audit: The process of examining a building, road or other infrastructure, to determine how accessible it is to disabled people;
- Access provision expertise: The ability to determine the needs of any disabled person, to either provide an innovative solution or contact appropriate organisations to supply the needed material;
- Disability awareness consultancy: The ability to advise fellow workers, managers, legislators, the media and other agencies on issues facing disabled people and the right attitudes towards disability.

In order to sustain the project, a company will be set up, for the purpose of:
- Implementing the programme set out above.
- Providing access consultancy to government and industry, including the assessment of
- the needs of employees, the sourcing of the right technology or adapted material, and the provision of proper training in its use.
- The provision of awareness training in the commercial sector.
- The dissemination of general information on issues related to disability, including good web design, currently available access technology and the achievements of disabled people.
- Engaging in other commercial or fund raising activities, specifically aimed at sustaining the activities listed above.