By; AMOS TAUNA, Kaduna
The head, Education Committee, Nigeria Association of the Blind, Mr David Udok Okon, has enjoined blind students to see education as a means they can explore their full potentials of contributing meaningfully to the development of the country.
He noted that Nigerians irrespective of their status can build a nation where opportunities are not dictated by whether a person can see or not.
Speaking in Kaduna on Wednesday when the Nigeria Association of the Blind presented accessible educational materials to Kaduna State Special Education School, Mr David Udok Okon enjoined the students would seize the opportunity with passion, working as hard as possible as they can to become successful in their chosen careers.
According to him, “I can say l understand what it was like to be deprived of books in the 1980. Technology has changed the way we do things and improved how we communicate and read texts. In those days, there were no mobile phones, and if this same technology has increased the gap in opportunities between disabled and non disabled people. The gadgets that people take for granted, computers and mobile phones are firstly very expensive for an average person with print disability which must be adapted if a person with a print impairment needs to access it.”
He stated that in the 1980s, he could use the very few resources he had to get a proper education, lamenting that those opportunities are now more distant for students.
According to him, “I dream of students doing great things despite any disabilities. I dream of them being able to address gatherings like this with erudition. I dream of them as equals with their non disabled counterparts because they have the same education.”
He called on other organisations to see the need of assisting students with needed reading materials to be able to aid them in their educational pursuit, pointing out that the disabled among them need special assistance for them to be able to succeed in their chosen careers.
