By; ARCHIBONG ESUENE, Makurdi
Hope Alive for Possibilities Initiative (HAPI) with the support of Disability Rights Advocacy Funds has held a one day media training in Makurdi, with the theme: “Advancing Media Inclusion and Accessibility for Disability -Inclusive Benue”.
In her opening address, HAPI Executive Director, Miss Aver Akighir, asserted that disability is everybody’s business and People With Disability (PWD) want to be addressed properly in order not to make them feel hurt and dehumanized.
The Executive Director emphasized the need to laid more on abilities of PWDs rather than their disabilities, acknowledging media role in driving the vision.
“This training is important to us because the media is a critical stakeholder in the push for domestication of disability right. Help us push for it”, Akighir solicited.
The Executive Director explained that HAPI “is a women led organization of persons with disabilities that works to facilitate the inclusion of women and girls with disabilities inline with human rights framework principles such as UNCRPD, SDGs, Global Disability Summit, Africa 2063 and Nigeria Disability Act”.
She said since inception in 2021, HAPI has been addressing issues faced by women and girls with disabilities with strategic focus on SGBV/SRHR, Climate Change, political participation Entrepreneurship, policy base advocacy and Education and thanked the donor agency, Disability Rights Advocacy Fund, for its sustained support.
On his part, Personal Assistant (PA) to Governor Hyacinth Alia on People with Special Needs, Mr Bem Anshe, in a goodwill message, urged media practitioners to take the advocacy for disability inclusivity to the nooks and crannies of Benue State.
He also assured of the State Government ‘s commitment towards the domestication of Disability Act in the State even as he lamented that Benue remained the only State in the North Central Nigeria to replicate the Act.
In his presentations, lead facilitator and Editor, The Qualitative Magazine (QTM),
Mr Agbo Chris Obiora, averred that disability inclusive reporting prevents stereotyping against PWDs, ensures their inclusion in every day activities, discourages discrimination and gives them equal opportunities just as their peers who are without disability.
He tasked journalists to shape public perception about people with disability, drive advocacy for them, promote accessibility and hold institutions accountable on disability issues to empower PWDs rather than dehumanize them.
According to him, a person should be prioritized before impairment to maintain their dignity. Thus, it is person with albinism rather than albino, it is also person with blindness and not blind person and etcetera, adding that when speaking, “PWD/s” should be avoided throughout communication but in writing, after giving full meaning, PWDs can be used subsequently.
Fielding questions on disability appropriate terminologies to be used in the media, whether words and expressions identified above as correct in disability reporting are peculiar to Nigeria since other countries including the United States of America (USA) do not prioritize person before impairment as they call a visually impaired person blind man, the facilitator said “it is the decision of Nigerian authorities”.
Obiora also educated media practitioners on Story Telling and Narrative Framing, Engaging with the Disability Community, Physical Consideration in Disability Reporting as well as Media Formats and Accessibility,