The Original Inhabitants with Disabilities in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) have appealed to relevant authorities to provide inclusive schools for persons with disabilities (PWDs) in the territory.

They noted that the physical structure of public schools in the FCT discourages enrolment, especially among PWDs.

A cross-section of the Original Inhabitants with Disabilities made the call during a sensitisation and enlightenment campaign in Abuja on Thursday.

The campaign, organised by the MacArthur Foundation, had the theme: “Promoting the Economic, Political and Social Rights of FCT Original Inhabitants with Disabilities.’’

The president of the Original Inhabitants with Disabilities in the FCT, Festus Yakubu, urged the FCT Administration to make public structures disability friendly.

He also called for the inclusion of members of the group in the committee working on the proposed FCT Commission for Persons with Disabilities.

“The rightful society for us to start with is the primary school. In any case, if you are talking of social rights, schooling is part of the beginning, or is the beginning of social rights that we are talking about,” Mr Yakubu said.

He explained that the original inhabitants with disabilities in the territory were feeling invisible, overlooked, marginalised, and forced to live on the fringes of society.

Mr Yakubu noted that one of the most significant outcomes of their advocacy was the focus on education, which he described as the foundation of social rights.

He stressed that every child with a disability deserved access to quality education from primary school upwards, not just as a policy issue but as a matter of human dignity.

Also speaking, a former Chairman of the Joint National Association of Persons with Disabilities in the FCT, Abubakar Abduljaleel, decried the exclusion of PWDs from key socio-economic sectors.

He said that exclusion limited their opportunities and contributions to development.

He, therefore, advocated for greater inclusion of PWDs in the FCT.

“Imagine being in a classroom without an interpreter. Imagine being unable to access the hospital because the doors are too narrow. Imagine being treated like a spectacle, rather than a person with dignity and worth,” Mr Abduljaleel stated. 

Representative of the headmistress from the Local Education Authority (LEA) Karu Central, Ochida Sunday, said there was ability in disability and Nigerians must begin to see PWDs as friends and family.

Mr Sunday emphasised the importance of teaching children in elementary schools and not to discriminate against PWDs. 

(NAN)