Persons with disabilities demand access to computer education

Persons with disabilities have asked governments at all levels in the country to be more sensitive to their affairs by ensuring that they are allowed access to the knowledge of information, computer and technology (ICT).

At the national summit on ICT and accessibility for persons with special needs and the elderly held in Abuja yesterday, the National President of the Resource Centre for Advocacy on Disability, Bashiru Modibo, said the handicapped children in the society would be able to lead a better life if laws are put in place to make it mandatory for Nigerians to cater for their special needs.

Protecting special interest of handicapped persons

To provide the foundation for these laws, Mr. Modibo called on the two chambers of the National Assembly to take urgent steps to harmonise the three Bills for the protection of the interests of the disabled for final assent by President Umaru Musa Yar'adua before the end of the year.

"If Nigeria's population is envisaged to grow to over 200 million by 2020, then if governments at all levels do not take care of the interest of the handicapped, it means by that time, the population of handicapped would have doubled to 50 percent from the present 25 percent of Nigeria's total population," he said.

He listed the laws that should be enacted by the legislators to include: Environmental Disability and Assistance Act - to compel governments to provide funding and assistance to the activities of the disabled in the society; the Individual Disability Education Act- to enable the disabled take advantage of technology to optimize his or her educational potentials; the Technology Assistance and Individual Act- to help persons with special needs utilize technology in meeting their developmental needs, and the Education of the Handicap Child Act- to make it mandatory for government to cater for the educational needs of children with disabilities in public schools.

Other areas he said the handicapped in the society require attention include: the provision of computer assisted-technology, to minimise the difficulties handicapped children face in accessing information for their education and other activities, and demonstration of overall understanding of their environment by providing infrastructure that would facilitate effective education, particularly skills in computer technology for gathering information in public libraries.

In a chat with NEXT, Danlami Basharu of the Anglo-Nigerian Welfare Association for the Blind, said the conference provided the platform for sensitization of the larger members of the society, especially the institutions that handle ICT issues, on the need to take care of the interest of the handicapped children and persons with disabilities.

Evolving ICT framework for all

The Deputy Vice Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Ernest Ndukwe, said with the growth of the ICT sector in the country, government is committed to ensuring that handicapped persons, who constitute about 25 percent of Nigeria's total population, are given the special attention they require to function effectively like every other member of the society.

One of such ways to help these groups of persons, Mr Ndukwe said, was the design and supply of information technology products and services in a manner that the technical features of computers and telephones would be useful to the special interests of persons with disabilities and the aged in the society.

He said the summit was to provide the opportunity to discuss technical framework that will assist government and other policy makers to evolve an all-inclusive policy guideline that will give equal I CT opportunities for all, regardless of age, gender, and disabilities.