Olaseinde Gbenga, Abuja
The President of the Nigerian Bar Association, Yakubu Chonoko Maikyau, has disclosed that Lawyers with Disabilities are not disabled, adding that they are only living with special needs.
This was disclosed at the NBA-LWDF 2022 Conference. The event which was tagged “Realities, Challenges and Expectations” took place at the Mary Hall, Pave Hotel and Suits, in kado Kuchi, Abuja.
In his keynote speech, the NBA president said, “I’m delighted to here, this is the first meeting I will be attending as the president of Nigeria Bar Association (NBA). I thank you for what I see here.
“I will express my dissatisfaction towards the name of the forum. I feel honoured when I was told to deliver the keynote speech in this forum, Members of this forum are always at a very special place in my heart any moment I’ve the opportunity to be with you. It is therefore a great delight that I stand before you to deliver this keynote and set the throne for the rest of the conversations that will take place in this Congress.”
In his comments, Yakubu commended and congratulated the bold initiatives of the organising Committees .
“I must specially thank my immediate predecessor in the office, Mr Olumide Akpata for his steadfastness in establishing this forum. In spite of the challenges or setbacks towards the success of the forum, he refused to be deterred, he surmounted the obstacles and push through. The result is our gathering here today.
Consequently, the NBA president gave kudos to the executive committees under the able leadership of the chairman, NBA-lawyers with Disabilities Forum, Asia Ahmad El-Rufai.
He said, “All of you have done good, you have written your names in the Annals of Nigerian Bar Association (NBA ) for which you will always be remembered.
It read further, “Let me quickly say that I’m quite uncomfortable with the theme of this Congress of which I’ve been asked to deliver a keynote. I’m uncomfortable in referring to you or anybody at all as disabled, neither will I support any group of persons to tag themselves as disabled.
“I task the leadership to come up with a suggestion of a better name for this forum.”
According to him, “Bearing a name disabled sets limitation, dampens our aspirations and expectations to our dreams. And I can put this in context with scriptural aspects.
“A man is stirred by the word of his mouth. Words are very strong and influence our lives. What we speak we become, what we speak we experienced. Every time you are described as disabled, it does something to us.”
In his words, “I have seen the resilience of the members of this forum, I have seen the deliberateness in what you have done, I can see your conviction and persuation. If I put it side-by-side with the words that we frequently use in describing ourselves, or the words others are used in describing the members of this forum, whether you have seen the impact of the words that is used in or not, I must admit that I’m not happy with the name.
Yakubu pointed that “Each time we make the declaration, it accept us in a negative way. As the president of this association, I’m taking the liberty to call on the leadership of this forum to align with my conviction and my believe.
“Therefore, for the purpose of this, the theme is should be changed to ‘Lawyer living with special needs in Nigeria: Realities Challenges and Expectations.’ And I thank you for accepting this.
He said, “We have to embark on the advocacy to liberate our minds and believe the best of us and as well explore the fullest of what God has deposited in us.”
Making reference to the provision of the 2018 disability Act, the president said surprisingly, “those who crafted this Act even in the process of doing it may have been suffering from one disability or the other at a time they put that into the law, because we have come to think that it is only what we see that defines disability, many of us are truly living with one disability or the other he added.
“I totally agree that many of us are dealing with one disability or the other. When we misconduct ourselves publicly, it is because we are experiencing a certain form of disability or deficiency in the knowledge of what we do because we can only do according to what we know. So anytime I see some persons doing against the expectation of the public, or of what you are expected to do as a public figure, and you fail in that perspective, you are the disabled one,” he reiterated.
For the purpose of justifying my dislike or displeasure about that piece of legislation and the theme of this conference, and also the name of this forum, I hereby submit that all of us and members of this group are not disabled.
Speaking about the high level of discrimination and marginalisation meted on People living with disability in our society, he said, “You are in the position to support when you notice one, every time you wake up, every morning, you open your eyes and you can see clearly, you speak and you can stand to your feet, just know that it is the grace of God you have received. If you denied that, tell me what you did while asleep to merit all these when you are awake. It is the function of the grace of God he disclosed.”
It read further, “We must as members of NBA advocate and change the psycho of Nigerians on how to accept and accommodate physically challenged persons in our environment. We must build an advocacy around it to change the orientation of Nigerians.”
Also, in her goodwill messages, the Secretary, NBA Lawyers with Disabilities Forum (NBA – LWDF), Patience Nkeonyeasua Etumudon commended the forum on the very first official congregation of Lawyers with Disabilities in Nigeria.
According to her, while we are going into the actualisation of this conference, we are positive and confident it will be impactful in the history of Lawyers with Disabilities and the disabled Communities at large.
The theme of this conference is a Special Act. I said this because whatever circumstances or problems we go through as humans, be rest assured that someone with Disabilities is going through worse than you are. So you must be able to support and care for physically challenged people in our society.
In her words, As a fresh graduate of the law school, I’ve prepared my CV, walked up to get a job in my area of specialization, but I suffered discrimination. This has been a general concern with physically challenged people. If I can go to school and succeed, why can’t I get a job, why would you discriminate against me. If I’m qualified to get the job, give it to me and if I fail to do my job then you can sack me.
She said, today we have different panels on ground that will be speaking on “employment of Lawyers and people with Disabilities”. We also have panels that will be speaking on “how to leverage on technology” as a Lawyer with Disability to help you achieve success and your set goals. We also have a session that will be led by the chairman of the Forum on “mental health”.
I want to appreciate every participants and everyone who made this conference a reality and a success she said.