Estimates vary for the number of people with disabilities in Nigeria, ranging from under 3 million people to over 25 million. Nigerian law prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities. Some discrimination occurs due to prevalent superstitions. [1] [2]
The World report on disability, published in 2011, said about 25 million Nigerians had at least one disability, while 3.6 million of these had very significant difficulties in functioning. [3] The 2006 Nigerian census reported 3,253,169 people with disabilities, or 2.32% of the total population of 140,431,790 in that year. [4] However, the Centre for Citizens with Disabilities, a Nigerian NGO, claims the census did not capture the full extent of disability in Nigeria, and has called on Nigeria's National Population Commission to cooperate with the Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development for the 2016 census in order to measure disability more accurately. [5] As at 2020, there are reportedly over 27 million Nigerians living with some form of disability.
The five most common types of disabilities in Nigeria are, in descending order, visual impairment, hearing impairment, physical impairment, intellectual impairment, and communication impairment. [4]
Nigeria ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities on 30 March 2007 and its Optional Protocol on 24 September 2010. [4] The Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development is charged with submitting reports on progress, but has yet to do so as of 2013. [4]
A 2008 study by the United Kingdom Department for International Development found that the public, the Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development, and disabled people's organizations (DPOs) in Nigeria understood disability within a discourse of welfare and charity. [6] This is as opposed to emphasis on social adaptation, inclusion, and empowerment as advocated by the social model of disability that is generally favored in the field of disability studies. [7] [8] It also found that two national umbrella DPOs, the Joint National Association of Persons with Disabilities (JONAWPD) and the Association for the Comprehensive Empowerment of Nigerians with Disabilities (ASCEND), often strongly disagreed while both presuming to speak on behalf of all Nigerians with disabilities, impeding their ability to lobby the government. [6]
Nine years after Nigeria ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, the President General Muhammadu Buhari into law the Discrimination Against Persons with Disabilities (Prohibition) Act 2018. The Law enshrined recommendations of Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities while awarding punitive damages to victims of discriminations living with disabilities. [9]
The law prohibits discrimination against people living with disabilities PLWD and sanctions those who contravene with fines. [10] A five-year transitional period was stipulated for the modification of amenities particularly in public buildings and fixing assistive tools in vehicles to make them accessible and usable for people with disabilities. [11]
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In line with the Prohibition Act of 2018 bill, President Muhammadu Buhari approved the establishment of National Commission for Persons with Disabilities and approved the appointment of James Lalu as its Executive Secretary. NCPWD is to prevent discrimination against persons with disabilities, and to make every one of them have equal rights and opportunities like their counterparts with no disabilities.
Disability is the experience of any condition that makes it more difficult for a person to do certain activities or have equitable access within a given society. Disabilities may be cognitive, developmental, intellectual, mental, physical, sensory, or a combination of multiple factors. Disabilities can be present from birth or can be acquired during a person's lifetime. Historically, disabilities have only been recognized based on a narrow set of criteria—however, disabilities are not binary and can be present in unique characteristics depending on the individual. A disability may be readily visible, or invisible in nature.
The social model of disability identifies systemic barriers, derogatory attitudes, and social exclusion, which make it difficult or impossible for disabled people to attain their valued functionings. The social model of disability diverges from the dominant medical model of disability, which is a functional analysis of the body as a machine to be fixed in order to conform with normative values. The medical model of disability carries with it a negative connotation, with negative labels associated with disabled people. The social model of disability seeks to challenge power imbalances within society between differently-abled people and seeks to redefine what disability means as a diverse expression of human life. While physical, sensory, intellectual, or psychological variations may result in individual functional differences, these do not necessarily have to lead to disability unless society fails to take account of and include people intentionally with respect to their individual needs. The origin of the approach can be traced to the 1960s, and the specific term emerged from the United Kingdom in the 1980s.
Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 is American legislation that guarantees certain rights to people with disabilities. It was one of the first U.S. federal civil rights laws offering protection for people with disabilities. It set precedents for subsequent legislation for people with disabilities, including the Americans with Disabilities Act in 1990.
The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities is an international human rights treaty of the United Nations intended to protect the rights and dignity of persons with disabilities. Parties to the convention are required to promote, protect, and ensure the full enjoyment of human rights by persons with disabilities and ensure that persons with disabilities enjoy full equality under the law. The Convention serves as a major catalyst in the global disability rights movement enabling a shift from viewing persons with disabilities as objects of charity, medical treatment and social protection towards viewing them as full and equal members of society, with human rights. The convention was the first U.N. human rights treaty of the twenty-first century.
Ableism is discrimination and social prejudice against people with physical or mental disabilities. Ableism characterizes people as they are defined by their disabilities and it also classifies disabled people as people who are inferior to non-disabled people. On this basis, people are assigned or denied certain perceived abilities, skills, or character orientations.
Disability in the United Kingdom covers a wide range of conditions and experiences, deeply impacting the lives of millions of people. Defined by the Equality Act 2010 as a physical or mental impairment with a substantial and long-term adverse effect on a person's ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities, it encompasses various aspects of life, including demographics, legislation, healthcare, employment, and culture. Despite numerous advancements in policy and social attitudes, individuals with disabilities often encounter unique challenges and disparities.
Sadiya Umar Farouq is a Nigerian politician who served as the Pioneer Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development.
The overall prevalence of people with disabilities is 4.52% of the population, i.e., 63.28 million, according to the ICMR's publication from the NFHS-5 survey 2019-21. India is a party to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Legislation that affects people with disabilities in India includes the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016, the Mental Health Care Act, 2017, the National Trust Act, 1999, and the Rehabilitation Council of India Act, 1992. People with disabilities in India are faced with negative social attitudes in the wider population.
In Japan, a person with a disability is defined as: "a person whose daily life or life in society is substantially limited over the long term due to a physical disability or mental disability". Japan ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) on 20 January 2014.
Disability rights are not specifically addressed by legislation in New Zealand. Instead, disability rights are addressed through human rights legislation. Human rights in New Zealand are protected by the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990 and the Human Rights Act 1993. New Zealand also signed and ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) in 2008.
The intersection of disability and religion concerns the manner in which disabled people are treated within religious communities, the religious texts of those religions, or the general input from religious discourse on matters relating to disability. Studies on the relationship between religion and disability vary widely, with some postulating the existence of ableism and others viewing religion as a primary medium through which to assist disabled people. Religious exhortation often prompts adherents to treat people with disabilities with deference, however when the disability constitutes a mental illness such an approach may be slanted with an acknowledgement of the latter's naivete. In religions with an eschatological belief in divine judgment, there are often traditions promulgating an exemption from judgement in the afterlife for mentally disabled people, as well as for children who die before reaching maturity due to both lacking an understanding of their actions in a manner analogous to the insanity defense. Regarding the rationale behind God's creation of disabled people, some religions maintain that their contrast with the non-disabled permits the non-disabled to reflect and God to subsequently assess the level of gratitude shown by each individual for their health.
Arie Rimmerman is an Israeli academic in disability policy research. As of 2018, he is the Richard Crossman Professor of Social Welfare and Social Planning at the University of Haifa, Israel and was the founder Dean of the Social Welfare and Health Sciences faculty. He has been a distinguished Professor at the Newhouse School of Public Communication, Syracuse University, and has also lectured at Harvard University, University of Pennsylvania, and Charles University, Prague.
Mad studies is a field of scholarship, theory, and activism about the lived experiences, history, cultures, and politics about people who may identify as mad, mentally ill, psychiatric survivors, consumers, service users, patients, neurodivergent, and disabled. Mad Studies originated from consumer/survivor movements organized in Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, and in other parts of the world. The methods for inquiry draw from a number of academic disciplines such as women's studies, critical race studies, indigenous epistemologies, queer studies, psychological anthropology, and ethnography. This field shares theoretical similarities to critical disability studies, psychopolitics, and critical social theory. The academic movement formed, in part, as a response to recovery movements, which many mad studies scholars see as being "co-opted" by mental health systems. In 2021 the first academic journal of Mad Studies, The International Journal of Mad Studies, was launched.
The 2016 National Disability Survey found that there are approximately 2,683,400 people with disabilities in South Korea. Physical disabilities account for about 50% of the total disabled population. In the past few decades, guided by the five-year plan, policies and services related to people with disabilities have improved. The government has established several regional rehabilitation centers for people with disabilities and has provided and implemented rehabilitation programs in their communities. The number of disabled people in South Korea is increasing as the population ages. Regarding this matter, the South Korean government is planning a stable welfare model to adapt to long-term demographic changes.
Disability Labour is a socialist society associated with the UK Labour Party. Disability Labour seeks to represent and support disabled Labour members and supporters. They are an independent policy-making group on disability with further "aims to support and develop disabled party members to serve as policymakers, ministers and elected officials".
Around 624,000 people of Azerbaijan have varying degrees of disability, which makes up about 6.4% of the population.
The National Commission for Persons with Disabilities (NCWD) is an agency in Nigeria. The agency was established in 2020.
The Joint National Association of Persons with Disabilities (JONAPWD) is the umbrella organization established in 1992 that brings together all disability institutions in Nigeria. The national headquarters is located in Abuja and its current national president is Abdullahi Aliyu Usman. Internationally, the organization is a member of the Commonwealth Disabled People's Forum and the African Disability Forum.
Models of disability are analytic tools in disability studies used to articulate different ways disability is conceptualized by individuals and society broadly. Disability models are useful for understanding disagreements over disability policy, teaching people about ableism, providing disability-responsive health care, and articulating the life experiences of disabled people.
Daniel Goodley is a scholar in the field of critical disability studies. As of 2024, he is a Professor of Disability Studies and Education in the University of Sheffield's School of Education. He also co-directs the university's iHuman research group, which explores the intersections of the following disciplines: "science and technology studies, sociology of health and illness, critical disability studies, or co-production".