Challenges Faced By Students Living with Disabilities: What Can Be Done?
Modern society is divided into classes and groups—groups that coexist yet differ in many senses. As a society, we have made notable strides toward creating an enabling environment for each group to thrive. However, despite the efforts made, some groups continue to experience hardship.
Here, our focus is going to be on People (students) living with disabilities, who, in my opinion, are probably the most vulnerable group in modern society.
People living with one disability or another face untold hardship that is not spoken about enough. That said, as colleagues, relatives, and associates, we owe them the responsibility of being more aware and sensitive to these issues and subsequently creating a more inclusive and enabling environment for them.
Living With Disability
It is essential to acknowledge the emotional toll that living with a disability can take on a student. For most people living with disabilities, being different or not fitting in can lead to feelings of isolation and low self-esteem. And beyond this, they face the most significant risk of an abundance of health inequities.
In Nigeria, one of the major challenges faced by students living with disabilities is the lack of accessibility to education. This challenge appears to be peculiar to third-world countries. Many schools in Nigeria are not equipped to handle the needs of students with disabilities, making it difficult for them to fully participate in education as a whole.
Moreover, students living with disabilities often face discrimination and negative attitudes from their peers and educators. They are often stigmatized and treated differently from their peers, which has an adverse impact on their self-esteem and academic performance. Discrimination can take many forms, including bullying, exclusion from extracurricular activities, and being denied access to necessary accommodations.
This lack of accessibility for people with disabilities can be attributed to several factors, including a lack of funding for special education programs and a lack of awareness among educators about the needs of students with disabilities.
In addition to the aforementioned emotional challenges, people with disabilities who do manage to get admitted into formal academic settings face significant academic hurdles. For instance, students with learning disabilities may struggle with reading and writing, while students with physical disabilities may encounter difficulties with mobility and access to classroom materials.
These challenges can make it difficult for students to keep up with their peers and can lead to feelings of frustration and discouragement. Regardless of these glaring challenges, many students with disabilities have shown incredible resilience and strength in overcoming them. With the proper support and accommodations, students living with disabilities can achieve great success in academics and beyond.
The Common Types of Disabilities
At this point, it is necessary to point out the common types of disabilities for proper comprehension. In no particular order, the five common types of disabilities are:
- Visual impairment: This is a term experts use to describe any kind of vision loss, whether it’s someone who cannot see at all or someone who has partial vision loss.
- Hearing impairment: Total or significant loss of hearing; Deafness is usually the result of inner ear or nerve damage. It may be caused by a congenital defect, injury, disease, certain medications, exposure to loud noise, or age-related wear and tear.
- Physical impairment: Physical impairment is typically defined as not being able to perform without assistance two, or sometimes three, of the six basic activities of daily living. A physical impairment is a condition in which part of a person’s body is damaged or is not working correctly.
- Intellectual Impairment: intellectual impairment, commonly described as ID, is a term used when a person has certain limitations in cognitive functioning and skills, including conceptual, social, and practical skills such as language, social, and self-care skills.
- Communication Impairment: A communication disorder is an impairment in the ability to receive, send, process, and comprehend concepts or verbal, nonverbal, and graphic symbol systems. A communication disorder may be evident in the processes of language and/or speech.
What Can Be Done?
Several strategies can be implemented to ensure that students with disabilities in Nigeria and across the world receive the support they need to succeed.
One of the most important strategies is providing accessible and inclusive education. This can be achieved through the implementation of special education programs, the provision of assistive technology and devices, the implementation of universal design principles, which aim to create environments that are accessible to all students regardless of ability, and the training of educators to better understand the needs of students with disabilities.
Another essential strategy is the promotion of awareness and advocacy. By raising awareness about the needs of students with disabilities, we can help reduce discrimination and promote a more inclusive society. This can be achieved through the development of public education campaigns, the organization of disability rights groups, and the engagement of policymakers and community leaders.
It should be noted, however, that such measures are not entirely exclusive to ‘students’ living with disabilities. There are people in workplaces, families, and other areas of society who deserve equal opportunities with their peers. By creating more inclusive environments, we can help break down the barriers that prevent students living with disabilities from achieving their full potential.
Furthermore, as mentioned earlier, notable strides have been made for People Living With Disabilities. An outstanding example is the ratification of the Discrimination Against Persons with Disabilities (Prohibition) Act 2018. The law prohibits discrimination based on a person’s disability and punishes those who do so with fines and jail time.
Additionally, it establishes a five-year transitional period for modifying public buildings, structures, and vehicles so that they are usable and accessible to those who have disabilities.
A National Commission for Persons with Disabilities was also established by the law, whose duty it is to make sure that people with disabilities have access to housing, healthcare, and education. The Commission has the authority to, among other things, take complaints of rights violations and assist victims in pursuing legal redress.
Final Word
Students living with disabilities face significant challenges in both academic and social environments. However, with the proper support and accommodations, these students can achieve unimaginable success.
It is up to all of us to work towards creating the more inclusive and enabling environment they need to succeed. By doing so, we can create a more just and equitable society for all.