When Elizabeth Adams began her journey as an educator in Nigeria, she was not seen for her skills or potential. She was seen first through the lens of disability.
“I remember when I was going to begin my career as a teacher,” she recalls. “The woman told me bluntly that it wasn’t persons like me they were looking for in her school because I have albinism.”
For Elizabeth, experiences like this were not isolated incidents. Throughout her education and early professional life, she encountered discrimination, pity, and deeply rooted assumptions about what persons with disabilities could or could not achieve. But rather than allowing those experiences define her, she transformed them into purpose.
Today, Elizabeth is the founder of Linking Circles Academy, an ed-tech platform focused on virtual tutoring and disability awareness training for teachers. She is also an advocate, trainer, speaker, and youth leader whose influence now extends beyond Nigeria to regional and global platforms.
Her journey reflects the transformative power of youth-led advocacy and the ripple effect that can happen when young persons with disabilities are equipped with the tools, confidence, and platforms to lead change.
Discovering Advocacy Through We Can Work
Elizabeth participated in the We Can Work youth-led advocacy Training of Trainers (TOT), an experience she describes as a turning point.
“The training was a game changer for me,” she says. “I started realising there were other rights that I could advocate for, other ways I could present my advocacy.”
Before the training, her understanding of disability rights was limited. While she had heard about Nigeria’s disability legislation after the signing of the Disability Act in 2018, she says much of it felt theoretical. The training deepened her understanding of disability rights frameworks, advocacy tools, stakeholder engagement, and the importance of evidence-based storytelling.
It also changed the way she approached advocacy itself.
“Before the TOT, I would just talk abstractly,” she explains. “But after the training, we learned about sharing personal stories and using evidence-based data to help people understand the realities persons with disabilities face.”
The programme also exposed her to peers with different disabilities and experiences, broadening her perspective on inclusion and collaboration.
“One of the things that stood out for me was how people with different disabilities worked together during the group activities,” she says. “We started seeing how different strengths can come together regardless of disability.”
Turning Advocacy into Action
Following the training, Elizabeth began applying what she learned in practical ways.
She led a team of youth advocates to engage with Modupe Cole Memorial School in Lagos, where they worked with school authorities and government stakeholders to discuss inclusive education and support for students with disabilities.
At the same time, she continued expanding the work of Linking Circles Academy, training teachers on disability inclusion, classroom accessibility, and reasonable accommodation. Drawing from both lived experience and professional expertise, she began helping schools rethink how they support learners with disabilities.
“In the last few months, my academy has trained 30 teachers on inclusive practices in both physical and virtual classrooms,” she says.
Her motivation remains deeply personal.
“One of the reasons I went into teaching was because of the exclusion I faced in school from my teachers,” she explains. “So now I train teachers on how to be more inclusive.”
From Local Advocacy to Global Leadership
By September 2025, Elizabeth’s advocacy journey had expanded significantly.
She was selected as a Mandela Washington Fellow, where she engaged with more than 25 young African leaders and used the opportunity to champion accessibility and workplace inclusion.
During an Ignite Talk delivered as part of the fellowship, she challenged organisations to move beyond pity and begin recognising persons with disabilities as contributors to economic growth and innovation.
Her message resonated.
“Some of the leaders reached out afterwards to say they had strengthened their inclusive policies,” she says. “Some organisations increased the number of employees with disabilities and began seeing persons with disabilities as contributors, not people to pity.”
Her work also led to participation in major international spaces, including the Global Disability Summit in Berlin, where she moderated a fireside conversation on economic inclusion through the We Can Work programme.
The session became one of the most attended discussions at the summit.
“We felt like mini celebrities afterwards,” she says with a laugh. “The appreciation and engagement from participants was overwhelming.”
Elizabeth also collaborated with Sightsavers to review the Copenhagen Declaration ahead of the upcoming World Social Summit in Qatar, contributing perspectives on accessibility and inclusion alongside other young persons with disabilities globally.
Building Pathways for Others
As her visibility grew, Elizabeth remained committed to creating opportunities for others.
She launched the Albinism Youth Exchange Programme to support young Nigerians with albinism through mentorship and advocacy training. She also served as advocacy coach for what she describes as Nigeria’s first inclusive pageantry for women with albinism.
The initiative combined beauty, leadership, and advocacy, with finalists developing community-based advocacy projects under her mentorship.
“It was not just a beauty pageant,” she says. “It was an advocacy pageant.”
Across the organisations she supports, Elizabeth continues pushing for stronger inclusion practices and reasonable accommodation for young persons with disabilities.
“One thing I’ve realised is that many leaders simply do not understand disability inclusion,” she says. “Sometimes they just need awareness, engagement, and practical guidance.”
Redefining What Inclusion Looks Like
For Elizabeth, advocacy is no longer just about raising awareness. It is about shifting systems, changing mindsets, and helping young persons with disabilities recognise their own value.
“It is one thing to have skills,” she says. “It is another thing to understand the value you bring to the table.”
That belief continues to shape her vision for the future. Through education, youth organising, storytelling, and policy engagement, she hopes to help build a society where inclusion is not treated as charity, but as a necessary part of social and economic progress.
Her story is a reminder that when young persons with disabilities are given space to lead, their impact can extend far beyond themselves, influencing schools, workplaces, policies, and communities across borders.
