26th June, 2024
By Jethro Ibileke
The Acting Director of the Center for Citizens with Disabilities (CCD), Mr Godwin Unumeri, has said that persons with disabilities (PWDs) are not cursed by God or by anyone else.
He stated this while sharing the experiences of some members of the PWDs in rural communities on day two of the capacity workshop organized to strengthen their rights and action plans, in Benin City, Edo State.
He said it is sad that in some rural areas across the country, persons with disabilities are seen as being cursed by God or bewitched by people around them.
“This is very, very unfortunate. We can all see that their situation is not due to any fault of theirs, they met themselves like that.
“They are neither cursed by God nor bewitched by anyone in the community. They are where they are today by nature and not any error on their part,” he said.
Unumeri charged all PWDs in Edo to form partnership and collaboration for inclusive economic opportunities in their various communities.
He noted that the workshop will expose them to the knowledge of advocacy that will help them push issues in the disability law that had been passed, and help them articulate themselves in going about the advocacy.
“The training will expose participants to know that rights-based advocacy is an advocacy for the rights of PWDs on the understanding that persons with disabilities were entitled to their rights as contained in the national disabilities law,” he disclosed.