Daniella, a graduate of Integrity International Academy, from Gombe state – Nigeria, was not born with any form of disability. She became visually impaired in 2020 after a fever. She had a good score in her Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) exam and had applied to go to a Police Academy. After the interview, she became visually impaired.
She found it difficult to accept this new reality and would sleep all through the day; this was her strategy to avoid people. Her parents enrolled her in Gindiri School for the Blind in Plateau State but soon after, it became uninteresting to her; To her, her life was over and there was no need going to school anymore. She began complaining to her teachers and fellow students about her apathy towards school. When the pressure became unbearable, the school called for her parents to come take her home.
In May 2023, the Joint National Association of Persons with Disabilities (JONAPWD) and with support from the Disability Rights Fund/Disability Rights Advocacy Fund (DRF)/(DRAF) organized a Capacity Building on Strengthening Cross Movement Collaboration of Women and Young Women with Disabilities in Nigeria. The selected women leaders with disabilities from 11 states of Nigeria were empowered with the technical skills to mentor younger women with disabilities.
After the mentor’s capacity session in May, it triggered the interest of Rebecca Kwayama Hassan, in Daniella Alfred, after she heard about her story and decided to mentor her. Rebecca is the Gombe state mentor under the Holding Rights, Leading for Rights Project for Young Women with Disabilities, who is also visually impaired. She took Daniella through counselling sessions, told her about the rights she possesses, and gave her countless examples of persons with disabilities who are successful. Soon after, Daniella decided that she will back to school.
It has been a work-in-progress for Daniella as she is becoming more outgoing and has a more positive outlook to life.
On September 26th 2023, in company of her mentor and uncle, she undertook an awareness creation campaign in a school; Kingdom Breed School, Tunfure-Gombe State. She told the pupils about how she got visually impaired, how she felt that her life was over, and even dropped out of school. She also told them about the challenges she faced/faces, the rights that persons with disabilities possess, mentioned that disability is not the end of anyone’s life, spoke about how disability can happen to anyone at any point of their lives, mentioned that disability is not communicable, shed light on certain stereotypes, and ended by saying that people with disabilities can achieve their dreams.
The pupils were elated by their findings about disabilities. They asked questions about what a braille is and wanted to see how it looks like, how to be of assistance to persons with visual impairment in their society, and what kind of fever led to the impairment. The pupils look forward to another visit by Daniella and her mentor as the mentor as this will also provide them an opportunity to see what a braille looks like.
Particularly, the story of Daniella describes the realities of many young women with disabilities in Nigeria. They navigate through life without the requisite knowledge on the rights they possess and the systems that ensure they enjoy equal opportunities as people without disabilities.
If there was a deliberate effort on raising awareness of the issues surrounding persons with disabilities as stated in article 8 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD); systems, stated in article 4 of the CRPD as general obligations of states parties; and an enabling environment, stated as accessibility in article 9; Daniella would most probably have been more prepared for any eventuality. Daniella never felt discriminated against but a knowledge about women with disabilities as stated in article 6 of the CRPD would have been beneficial.
These gaps are what the partnership between the Disability Rights Fund (DRF) and the Joint National Association of Persons with Disabilities (JONAPWD) addresses, guided by the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). DRF and JONAPWD works together to advocate for the rights of women with disabilities and achieves this through partnership with relevant stakeholders.
