CAHPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

GENERAL BACKGROUND
The role of rehabilitation in the lives of persons with disability cannot be overemphasized. In
definition, Rehabilitation is the act of restoring something to its original state, like the
rehabilitation of the forest that had once been cleared for use as an amusement park. It is the
process of restoring a person's ability to live and work as normally as possible after a disabling
injury or illness. It aims to help the patient achieve maximum possible physical and
psychological fitness and regain the ability to be independent. It offers assistance with the
learning or relearning of skills needed in everyday activities, with occupational training and
guidance and with psychological readjustment.
The noun rehabilitation comes from the Latin prefix re-, meaning again and habitare, meaning
make fit. When something falls in to disrepair and needs to be restored to a better condition, it
needs rehabilitation. People seek rehabilitation after an accident or surgery to restore their
strength, or to learn to live without drugs or other addictive substances or behaviors.
The Anglo-Nigerian Welfare Association for the Blind (ANWAB) which played a major role in
the rehabilitation of visually impaired persons was founded in the United Kingdom in 1994 and
began its Nigerian operations in 1996. It is a non-profit, charitable Non-Governmental
Organization. It was first registered as a charity in the UK in December 1994 and The
Associations centre commenced operations in Nigeria October 1996 and registered with the
Corporate

Affairs

Commission

in

Nigeria

in

November

1999.

Being a charitable non-governmental organization, ANWAB has to fend for itself as it does not
receive any subvention from any State or Federal Government. It has to source for funds from
within and outside Nigeria, from corporate organizations, charitable trusts and well-meaning
individuals,

but

most

especially

from

collaborators

in

UK

and

the

U.S.

ANWABs main operations base is the Centre for the Blind in Lagos, located at 275 Herbert
Macaulay Way, Alagomeji, Yaba, Lagos, Nigeria where it focuses on the brailing of books and
other printed materials to provide the entire syllabus of textbooks in Braille for blind children in
secondary

and

tertiary

educational

institutions

throughout

Nigeria.

AIMS
ANWAB is a non-profit non-governmental registered charitable association; its main aim is to
create an enabling environment that will foster independence of blind people generally through
education and welfare. Serious attention is paid to the interests of all blind people, particularly
blind women. ANWAB is working actively with collaborators in the United Kingdom; the
Association was founded in 1994 in order to help alleviate the many obstacles facing the blind
people of Nigeria
OBJECTIVES:
Its main objective is to help alleviate the many problems encountered by blind and partially
sighted persons in Nigeria.
The provision of reading materials in Braille or audiotape, training of all blind persons for
independent living.
Eradication of poverty among the human race in general and persons with poor eyesight in
particular;
Creating enlightenment programs through the media that will bring about awareness and the
understanding of the difficulties faced by persons with disability, especially the blind;
Working towards the passage of a national disability law in Nigeria for persons with poor
eyesight;
Helping to find education and employment opportunities for the blind;
Promoting the setting up of mobility trainings for blind people.

STATEMENT OF RESEARCH PROBLEM

This work seeks to address the visually impaired who feel disability is the end of the road. At the
end of this work, a proper survey of how ANWAB have been able to put smile on the faces of
person(s) with visual impairment who have lost hope.
This project seeks to address the following issues;
The problem of segregation of visually impaired people in the society.
What is the value of ANWAB rehabilitation program in the eradication of poverty
in human race in general?
The challenges that is faced by ANWAB during the rehabilitation of especially the newly blinded
person(s).
SIGNIFICANCE OF STUDY
This work will be of great importance to the disabled people who have decided to constitute
themselves a nuisance. To those who have decided to count on their disability as an excuse for
not being productive. This research will show how visually impaired person(s) can live
independently and can be useful to him/herself and the society at large after a proper
rehabilitation. This will be done by examining the various activities of ANWAB and the lives of
those on whom they have impacted through their rehabilitation program. The uniqueness of this
research is that no Historian has ever wrote on this particular association of the blind
SCOPE OF STUDY
This work intend to look at Anglo-Nigerian Welfare Association of the Blind, located at 275
Herbert Macaulay Way, Alagomeji, Yaba, Lagos from inception up till date. This is because the
organization is still operating.
METHODOLOGY
Basically, this research will make use of two main sources of data, primary and secondary
sources for the purpose of objectivity. Primary sources will include interviews with the
management, staff, student(s) and friend(s) of the organization as well as the organization hand
book, representatives from several other NGOs providing disability rehabilitation services. Also,

the associations newsletters will be used. Secondary sources such as journal articles and
textbooks relating to this work will also be used.
LITERATURE REVIEWS
This literature review is aimed at showing the efforts of welfare associations and social workers
as well as social policies in proving a means through which a disabled person could be included
and useful to the society. This review will also look at how constitution has protected persons
with a disability. More importantly, this review will look at the importance of education (special)
and rehabilitation program to the disabled, especially persons with visual impairment. Though,
not positive all through, but its positive overshadowed the negative parts.
Excepting the specific case of industrial injuries benefit and war pensions, social right that was
directed to the special subsistence needs of disabled people have lagged behind the development
of other rights. To that end, Hartley Dean in his book titled, Welfare rights and social policy
established that, at a time when the cause of human right is high on the global political agenda,
the central question was why the status of welfare rights as an element of human right remains
ambiguous. This book describes a clutch of benefits that were first introduced in the 1970s in
order to supplement benefit provision for severely disabled people. Right to social security,
employment, housing, education, health and social care are critical to human well being. Yet,
there are invariably subordinate to civil and political right of citizenship; they are often fragile
and difficult and because of their conditional nature, they may be implicated in the social control
of individual behavior. The book focuses on the fact that global concept of welfare rights and
critiques of their consequences. It further explores the different ways in which welfare rights are
ideologically constructed and the bearer of such rights is specially constituted. It advocate for an
ethical notion of responsibility that recognizes the nature of human interdependency, and for
rights that regulate society in response to human needs.
Hartley Dean tries to introduce social policy through a critical discussion of welfare rights. He
borrowed from 24th article of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights
(UNDHR) which states that Everyone has that right to a standard of living adequate for health
and well being of himself and family.in event of sickness, disability, widowed..
In essence, everyone (including the disabled) has the right to a standard living. However, if a
disabled person (blind) is not rehabilitated or taking care of, he or she will not be able to fit in the
society. For instance, some people are not employable because of their disability status. Hence,
4

through rehabilitation, rendered by the social workers, this person will be productive both to
himself and the society at large.
People with a disability are a diverse group that often needs special attention, considerations
and accommodation. William Farley, et al, in an edited book, titled Introduction to social
work described a disabled person to a social worker as one who is not performing adequately in
the various social roles appropriate for him or her. The work explains that the main focus of a
social worker is on helping people improve their social functioning, their ability to interact and
relate with others. Social work is viewed from three aspects; it is defined in three ways such as
art, science and professional. Art because it requires great skills to understand and to help them
to help themselves, Science because its problem-solving methods and its attempt to be objective
in ascertaining facts and developing principles and operational concepts, also professional
because it encompasses the attribute of a profession. The book defines social welfare as the
organized system of social services institutions, designed to aid individuals and groups to attain
satisfying standards of life and health, a personal and social relationship that permits them to
develop their capacities and to promote their well-being in harmony with the needs of their
families and the community
Rehabilitation program comes in various forms; it could be vocational training, counseling, to
mention but a few. Also, rehabilitation program is not solely for the disabled. A drug addict,
shopaholic and people with other abnormal behavior could benefit from a rehabilitation program.
However, this work is focused on people with a disability, particularly person(s) with visual
impairment. According to Charles Zastrow in his book, introduction to social work and social
welfare, defines rehabilitation program for people with a disability as restoration to the fullest
physical, mental, social, vocational and economic usefulness of which they are capable. A focus
of empowering people with a disability is to maximize self determination and independence in
the least restrictive environment that is feasible. He firstly provided a brief history of
rehabilitation practices and of the ways different cultures have treated people with a disability.
He explains that many people with a disability were not born with it, many was due to accident
or eventual development. The history explains several ACTS that was established in order to
protect the rights and the inclusion of people with a disability in the society. One of these was the
Vocational Rehabilitation ACT, passed in 1923, which prohibits discrimination against people
with a disability by any program who is receiving government funds. Another was the Federal
social security ACTS of 1935, which established the permanency of rehabilitation programs for
5

the blind and the disabled. In order to emphasize on the role of rehabilitation program for
person(s) with a disability for instance, during the World War II in the United States, there was a
severe labor shortage, which created work opportunities for people with a disability. These
people were able to demonstrate to thousand of employers that if placed in an appropriate job,
they could perform well. This growing realization to the establishment of the presidents
Committee on Employment of Handicapped. He created an insight that disabled people detest
being treated as socially different simply because of their disability. He further explains how it is
to respect those who have a disability for a variety of reasons, one of which is that all of us have
a vested interest in creating a society that respect those who have a disability.
He listed and explained the various services Rehabilitation centers offers to people with a
disability. These include; vocational evaluation, sheltered employment, works adjustment
training, counseling services and placement services. (This type of rehabilitation center used to
be called Sheltered Work Shop. He listed people with a disability who are famous. Some of
whom are;
Julius Caser, Roman Emperor, with Epilepsy
Helen Keller, she was blind, deaf and mute, she advocated for people with disability and lived
independently for three decades.
John Milton, English author/poet, became at the age of 43. He went on to create his most famous
epic paradise Lost
Ray Charles, singer and musician, was blind and a host of other
To show the extent of the work of a social worker, that provides rehabilitation services for people
with a disability, recordings are made in order to improve the hearing ability of a blind person
since the hear is what blind person depends on in getting familiar with whatever is going on in
their immediate environment. On that note, an edited book, titled Auditory Rehabilitation for
Hearing impaired and Blind persons. The book explains how recordings were made through
various means and at different times in order to achieve the aim of making a blind person and
persons with hearing impairment comfortable. Although, most of these recordings were made to
rehabilitate persons with hearing impairment, the program however is of great importance to the
visually impaired people as it makes them get familiar with certain sounds because the hear of a
blind person is the eye of such person. The purpose of this book is to improve rehabilitation
6

program for hearing impaired and the blind. The book acknowledges that the role of hearing to
the blind cannot be ignored. Deprived of the numerous advantages of sight, the blind person
becomes dependent on their hearing for maintaining adequate contact with their environment.
Thus, hearing becomes exceptionally important to the blind in such areas such as interpersonal
relationships, mobility, vocational adjustment, family adjustment, and self concept.
Since hearing plays a critical role in the adjustment of blind persons, it is evident that a certain
degree of hearing loss constitutes a real barrier to the achievement of life goals for a blind
person. Therefore, it is certain that an improved hearing function would facilitate personal,
family, community and vocational adjustment. This, in advantage will enable a blind person to
listen effectively among family, friends, to be able to watch T.V and listen to radio without the
use of a hearing aid.
In the area of education, Yakubu Salihu Adako in the Journal of the Nigerian association of
special education teachers argues that the goal of special education for all shall be to provide
adequate education for all special cases, with a diversified and appropriate curriculum for all the
beneficiaries. Adako also explains explicitly that the government would effectively contribute its
own quota to educational development of challenged children by giving the highest policy and
budgetary priority to improve education services so that all children could be included regardless
of differences and difficulties. What Adako suggests is the utmost contribution of the government
coupled with its recognition of the difficulties that surround the education of the physically
challenged. He further accentuates that such measures by the government would depict a form of
hope for the challenged ones.
T.O. Adelowo in the journal of the Nigerian Association of Special Education Teachers
emphasizes on the role of teachers in the physically challenged schools. He further explained that
extreme importance must be ascribed to teachers, especially in physically challenged schools,
accentuating that some tools would be needed by teachers to make teaching effective. What one
should necessarily pinpoint is the fact that most schools for physically challenged, play down on
the qualification and training of teachers which is highly essential for the physically challenged
to possess a perfect grasp for the institutions. He adds also that ability to plan for mastery
teaching and learning should also include assessment of needs prioritizing teaching contents
matching needs and delivery, ensuring all access to all within the institutional curriculum, lesson
evaluation and record keeping.
7

Dr. T.A. Bolarin in his book titled, The History and Development of Western Education, argues
that the attempt to implant Western education in developing countries, by developing countries
has proven to be like a man winking in the dark. Her reason for this assertion clearly lies in the
understanding of the historical antecedents that have characterized political and cultural system
of these developing countries. The fundamental issue she sights is the question as to whether the
adoption of a western system of education is totally feasible, since the western education in itself
was devised for the people of a particular culture. Thus, trying to implant western education in a
country like Nigeria or Tanzania will definitely meet with difficulties. She therefore insists that a
method for adapting the content of western education to fit into the needs and aspirations, of the
people of developing countries should be adequately considered. Bolarin still urges in her work,
that a viable solution therefore is to adapt the Western education rather than to completely reject
the system, like the northerners have done and has led to the outbreak of terrorist activities.
The essence of the book is to show that the role of education cannot be underestimated, even
though it is not about special education or in any form of vocation, it shows the link between the
nature of government policies and the welfares states, the challenges and solutions the
educational sector has created. It is within context of this assertion that recommendations for the
schools development can be attained.
Elsevier in the Journal, Developmental disability; promoting decision-making; selfdetermination. The aim of this paper is to review recent literature on health issues for adults with
developmental disability and reflect on how this research informs service provision, future
research work, and social and health policy. Studies based on mortality data are most likely to
aim at identifying individuals most at risk of premature death, and some researchers argue that
health-oriented service systems appear ill-equipped to address the needs of the at risk groups.
Morbidity studies highlight specific health concerns found in this population and commonly
report high rates of untreated, yet treatable, conditions. The emerging literature on the behavioral
determinants of health suggests risk of preventable morbidity and mortality because of the lack
of health-promoting behaviors, particularly in relation to diet and physical activity. Of particular
interest in this literature is the affect of living arrangements on health promoting activities. This
paper concludes that future directions in health research for adults with developmental disability
will be concerned with the complexity of the interactions between biology, pathology, and
behavioral and environmental determinants. More use of self-reported health studies is

suggested, as well as further exploration of effective strategies of health promotion and health
promoting decision-making and self-determination among this population.
Well, I know this is going to sound very strange to you, but I dont see myself as a disabled
person; (Okpai Ngozi, a graduate of University of Lagos, political science department) in line
with what Taylor and Francis said in the journal, titled disability and society, volume 17
about the notions of the disabled of self-identity. It starts with a brief description of what Hall
(1996) describes as the two main schools of thought on identity. It then moves on to explore and
discuss the self, and the embodied nature of self, and then explores the place of identity in
disability studies. Disabled people's accounts around self-identification are then presented. The
analysis of the data suggests that many of the disabled do not see themselves as disabled and do
not identify as disabled people. The essence of this book is to show the value of rehabilitation for
persons with a disability. Thus, a rehabilitated person is a restored person and such person can
even compete with an able counterpart successfully.
In all, the author used great deals of historical sources such as secondary and primary which
includes oral interviews, official publications unpublished documents: memoranda, addresses,
speeches et cetera, newspapers and magazines, unpublished essay and so on.Succinctly, the
books and journals, although acting as secondary sources have greatly enabled the creation of
linkages between government enacted policies as regards protection and social inclusion of
persons with a disability and solutions that would greatly aid the recommendations made at the
end of this work to make the society an inclusive one. Thus, the role of rehabilitation program
especially for the people with a disability cannot be over emphasized.

Endnotes
Elsevier. Developmental Disability; promoting decision making; self determination, (journal),
vol. 16, 1995.
T.O. Adelowo. (Journal) Nigerian Association of Special Education.
Tylor and Francis.(journal) Disability and society. Vol.1-17, (Current issue). (Carfax Publishing,)
Yakubu Salihu Adako. Journal of the Nigerian association of special education.
Chigeonu, N.E, Art creativity and information lives in rehabilitation of the handicapped, (patmas press ltd (Ibadan), Sped publication series), 1996.
Maryjane, Rees. Auditory Rehabilitation for Hearing impairment and Blind persons (American
speech and hearing Association, Danville, Illinois, America), 1963-66.
Dr. (Mrs.) T.A Bolarin, The History and Development of Western Education.( Olu-Akin
Publishers Ibadan
Hartley, Dean. Welfare Rights and Social policy. (Pretence Hall, USA, 2002).
William Farley, et al, introduction to social work, ed, (pearson international publication).
Zastrow, Charles. Introduction to social work and social welfare;Empowering people. eds. 10th
(Belmont, Usa, Brook/cole, Congage Learning, 2009). Chp. 16.

10

CHAPTER TWO
BLINDNESS AND REHBILITTION; (an overview)
INTRODUCTION
Blindness, total or partial is the inability to see because of disease or disorder of the eye, optic
nerve, or brain. The term blindness typically refers to vision loss that is not correctable with
eyeglasses or contact lenses. Blindness may not mean a total absence of sight, however. Some
people who are considered blind may be able to perceive slowly moving lights or colors. (1)
The term low vision is used for moderately impaired vision. People with low vision may have a
visual impairment that affects only central visionthe area directly in front of the eyesor
peripheral visionthe area to either side of and slightly behind the eyes. Some people with low
vision are able to function with their remaining sight while others need help to learn to use their
sight more efficiently with training and special tools. (2)
The term blindness is used somewhat misleadingly to designate certain visual conditions. Color
blindness, for example, does not reduce visual sharpness and should more accurately be called
color-perception deficiency. Color blindness occurs almost exclusively in males, and the most
common form is the inability to differentiate between certain shades of red and green. Night
blindness, the inability to see in low levels of light, is commonly associated with a lack of
vitamin A in the diet or with inherited diseases such as retinitis pigmentosa, a condition involving
progressive degeneration of the eyes retina and abnormal deposits of pigment. (3)
DEFINING BLINDNESS
Vision experts assess an individual's sight using two measurements: visual acuity and visual
field. Visual acuity is the ability to see details, such as symbols or letters of specific sizes.
Normal vision is described as 20/20. A person with any degree of sight loss has a visual acuity
with a higher second number, such as 20/200. Visual field refers to the space around the center of
visionthe peripheral area. A normal visual field is said to be 180 degrees in diameter, or half a
circle. (4)

11

In the United States, legal blindness is defined as a person with a visual acuity of 20/200 or less
in the better eye with the best optical correction, such as eyeglasses or contact lenses, or a visual
field whose widest diameter is no greater than 20 degrees. An individual with a visual acuity of
20/200 must stand at 6 m (20 ft) to see objects that a person with normal sight can see at 60 m
(200 ft). An individual with a visual field of 20 degrees or less has a limited visual range
sometimes referred to as tunnel vision that is likened to viewing the world through a toilet paper
roll. A person declared legally blind in the United States is eligible for government benefits. (5)
PREVALENCE AND INCIDENCE
Following the American analysis, about 750,000 Americans are considered legally blind and
about 50,000 new cases of blindness occur each year. Approximately 8.9 million people have
low vision. Of these, about 1.5 million cannot read ordinary newspaper type even with the aid of
eyeglasses or other optical aids that provide significant magnification. Although it is very
difficult to determine the global prevalence of blindness, the World Health Organization (WHO)
estimates that 40 to 45 million people are blind worldwide and an additional 160 million
individuals suffer from low vision. (6)
MAJOR CAUSES OF BLINDNESS
There are three major causes of blindness in the world. These are cataract, trachoma, and
glaucoma, accounting for over 70 percent of all cases of sightlessness.
CATARACT
The English dictionary defines Cataract as a disease of the eye causing its opacity and, unless
treated, leading to blindness. Cataract is an opacity, or cloudiness, in the normally clear lens of
the eye that interferes with vision. Although regarded by many people as an unavoidable effect of
advancing age, cataract may develop at any time in lifeeven before birth. Worldwide, cataract
causes 19 million cases of blindness. In Africa and Asia, cataract accounts for nearly half of all
blindness. Surgery to remove the opaque lens is the only effective way of treating cataract.
Worldwide, however, only 10 to 20 percent of all cataracts are removed. (7)

12

Eye with cataract

Trachoma
Trachoma, contagious infection of the eye caused by Chlamydia trachomatis, (a bacteria related
to the organism that causes psittacosis). Infection is spread by the bite of a host fly. Characterized
by hard pustules or granular excrescences on the inner surface of the eyelids, inflammation of the
membrane, and subsequent involvement of the cornea, trachoma is a major cause of blindness
especially in some villages in northern Africa. It most commonly occurs among populations
living under poor sanitary conditions. (8)
The disease begins after an incubation period of five to seven days with inflammation of the eye.
Ensuing symptoms are considerable discharge of pus, swelling of the lids, tearing, and increased
sensitivity to light. It goes on in a few weeks to chronic swelling, formation of blisters in the eye,
and destruction and scarring of the cornea, which eventually causes blindness. In its early stages
trachoma responds readily to the topical, and sometimes oral, administration of broad-spectrum
antibiotics. In the 1950s the World Health Organization instituted a broad program for
elimination of the disease. (9)
Glaucoma

Glaucoma, group of eye diseases characterized by increased pressure within the eye and resulting
loss of vision. Although the vision loss caused by glaucoma is irreversible, medication or surgery
can usually control the pressure within the eye and slow or halt the progression of the disease. If
glaucoma is diagnosed in its early stages, it can be treated effectively, and vision can usually be
preserved. (10)
Glaucoma occurs in two main varieties, known as chronic simple and acute glaucoma. (11) In
chronic simple glaucoma, pressure within the eye rises gradually, and vision loss progresses over
a period of years. In acute glaucoma, the pressure inside the eye rises suddenly and immediate
13

medical treatment is necessary to preserve vision. (12) Acute glaucoma is also known as narrowangle or angle-closure glaucoma, because the angle between the cornea (the transparent layer of
tissue at the front of the eye) and the iris (the colored part of the eye) becomes smaller than
normal. Chronic simple glaucoma is also known as open-angle glaucoma because the angle
between the cornea and iris remains normal. (13) Worldwide, approximately 6.7 million people
have significant vision loss in both eyes due to glaucoma, making this condition the second
leading cause of blindness. (14)Age is a primary risk factor for glaucoma: The condition strikes
about 2 percent of people over age 40, and about 8 percent of people over age 70. The disease
tends to run in families, although it is not inherited in a regular, predictable pattern. (15)
Glaucoma affects six to eight times as many blacks as whites, and blacks may develop glaucoma
at a younger age and suffer more severe vision loss than whites. (16) Other factors that increase
the risk of glaucoma include diabetes, nearsightedness, high blood pressure, and long-term use of
cortisone or other steroid medication (Any medication to enhance athletic performance).
Although risk factors for the disease are well understood, the cause of glaucoma remains
unknown. (17)
SYMPTOMS OF GLAUCOMA
In its early stages, glaucoma is symptomless. The gradual increase of pressure inside the eye
does not cause any pain or discomfort. As the disease progresses, however, vision begins to
deteriorate. If glaucoma is left untreated, the field of vision continues to shrink until a person
becomes blind. (18) Glaucoma can be detected before vision loss occurs through a simple,
painless routine eye exam called tonometry test. The instrument for this test is called
tonometer. The instrument blows a puff of air into the eye to measure the pressure inside the
eye. (19)
Put together, No worldwide estimates are available on the incidence of blindness and visual loss
caused by eye injury, but some figures are available from individual countries. In Nigeria, for
example, 25 percent of those accidentally blinded are schoolchildren. In some developing
countries, where medical care may be minimal, a slight abrasion of the cornea often leads to
ulceration, severe infection, and ultimately loss of the eye. In all cases of visual impairment,
certain percentage of eye injuries occur on the job, in schools, and in sports and recreational
activities; yet it is estimated that 90 percent of all eye injuries could be avoided by practicing eye
safety and using protective eyewear. (20)
14

REHABILITATION
INTRODUCTION
The role of rehabilitation in the lives of persons with VISUAL IMPAIRMENT cannot be
IGNORED. In definition, Rehabilitation is the act of restoring something to its original state, like
the rehabilitation of the forest that had once been cleared for use as an amusement park. It is the
process of restoring a person's ability to live and work as normally as possible after a disabling
injury or illness. It aims to help the patient achieve maximum possible physical and
psychological fitness and regain the ability to be independent. It offers assistance with the
learning or relearning of skills needed in everyday activities, with occupational training and
guidance and with psychological readjustment. (21)
The noun rehabilitation comes from the Latin prefix re-, meaning again and habitare, meaning
make fit. When something falls in to disrepair and needs to be restored to a better condition, it
needs rehabilitation. People seek rehabilitation after an accident or surgery to restore their
strength, or to learn to live without drugs or other addictive substances or behaviors.(22)
Rehabilitation, term signifying any programmed ameliorative exercise, guidance, or instruction
afforded to those with a particular disability, whether physical, psychological, or social; the term
is also applied to the economic help or relief given to refugees or victims of natural disasters, and
sometimes to urban reconstruction programs. Rehabilitation is generally synonymous with
therapy, as sponsored by official or public programs. (23)
People who can profit from rehabilitation include convalescents, deaf-mutes or blind people,
amputees or paralytics, emotionally disturbed people, alcoholics, criminals, and juvenile
delinquents. In all cases the purpose of such beneficial treatment is the instilling or restitution of
positive skills or attitudes in a person to provide him or her with a more contributive and
fulfilling role in society. See Occupational Therapy; Physical Therapy; Psychotherapy;
Rehabilitation, Vocational; Therapy. (24)

15

HISTORY OF REHABILITATION
The organization was set up as the Rehabilitation Institute in 1949 Dublin, Ireland to support
people recovering from TB to rebuild their lives, to regain their independence and to re-enter the
workforce following their illness.

In the early years, Rehab (Rehabilitation) focused on

providing training services to support people to enter or to re-enter the workforce.

Throughout its history, Rehab has developed considerable skills and resources in meeting the
needs of people who need specific supports to live the lives that they want to live. Since its early
years, Rehab has expanded its focus to include all people with disabilities and others who are
marginalized and, in all, hundreds of thousands of people and their families have benefitted from
the services provided by the organization over the years. Rehab has transformed into one of
Europe's most dynamic disability organizations. World-class facilities have been put in place
throughout Ireland and the UK along with programmes that are often replicated across Europe.
The organization has diversified considerably, developing sustainable, commercial businesses
where people with disabilities and people without disabilities work side by side. Today these
businesses operate in a number of areas including recycling, packaging, logistics and retail
services.
In 1995, the organization moved into new areas of service provision, providing people with
disabilities and older people with health and social care services such as day, home-based,
respite, residential and outreach services. Throughout its history, Rehab has worked hard to
ensure its economic sustainability so that it can continue to provide high-quality services for the
people it serves. In 1952, Rehab launched a football pools competition as Ireland's first
nationwide lottery operation. Since then Rehab Lotteries products have evolved to include
scratch cards, radio and online bingo.
Since its inception, Rehab has been at the forefront of the campaign to give disability its rightful
place on the national agenda. As early as the 1950s, Rehab has sought to influence government
policy to significantly improve quality of life for people with disabilities. It has lobbied for the
introduction of realistic State payments to those whose disability prevents them from working,
along with measures to increase access for people with disabilities to public transport and public
buildings.

16

Today, there is a growing recognition that a broad coalition of all stakeholders in the disability
sector is best placed to effect real change and that working together so much more can be
achieved. Through such a stakeholder approach, Rehab has played an instrumental role in the
development and implementation of the National Disability Strategy which for the first time
places disability firmly on the agenda of key government departments.
Over the last 60 years, a huge amount has been achieved by Rehab for people with disabilities.
Rehab plans to build on this and to play a key part in shaping a better future for people with
disabilities and others who are marginalized for many years to come. (25)
TYPES OF REHABILITATION
Rehabilitation programs are doctor-supervised programs designed to assist individuals with a
physical or mental condition that they may not be able to deal with on their own. The
therapists/social workers who work in these programs treat a variety of conditions including
physical conditions, occupational limitations and narcotic abuse. Patients participate in
rehabilitation either by going to inpatient (An inpatient is a patient who must be hospitalized for
at least one night in order to receive medical treatment)sessions for a certain amount of time or
visiting the facility on a daily basis for visits until he or she no longer needs the therapy. There
are many different types of programs and are administered in medical facilities and by local or
county agencies. (26)
Drug Rehabilitation Programs
Drug rehabilitation (often drug rehab or just rehab) is a term for the processes of medical or
psychotherapeutic treatment, for dependency on psychoactive substances such as alcohol,
prescription drugs, and street drugs such as cocaine, heroin or amphetamines. (27)
Some government agencies also subsidize much of the cost of a drug rehabilitation center visit
for indigent addicts or those who have been ordered into a drug treatment program through court
order or other involuntary arrangement. Some drug rehabilitation centers are affiliated with local
hospitals, while others work independently or are considered non-profit organizations. (28)

17

Juvenile Rehabilitation Programs

The amount of time that a minor is involved in a juvenile rehabilitation program can vary. Some
minors are there for short periods such as several weeks or months. Many legal systems operate
under the assumption that juvenile offenders can be rehabilitated if proper intervention is
provided, and rather than allowing juveniles to disappear into the justice system, the courts
would rather provide juveniles with an opportunity to undergo rehabilitation which might offer
them a second chance.(29)
Offender Rehabilitation Programs
For first offenders convicted of driving under the influence or public intoxication, rehabilitation
programs may be offered as an alternative to jail. (30)
Alcohol Rehabilitation Programs
Drug and alcohol rehabilitation programs provide rehabilitation to people who have a chemical
dependency. (31)
Vocational rehabilitation programs
Vocational rehabilitation is a process which enables persons with functional, psychological,
developmental, cognitive and emotional impairments or health conditions to overcome barriers
to accessing, maintaining or returning to employment or other useful occupation.[32]
PROCESS OF REHABILITATION
Disability is an umbrella term for impairments, activity limitations, and participation restrictions,
denoting the negative aspects of the interaction between an individual (with a health condition)
and that individuals contextual factors (environmental and personal factors) (WHO 2011; WHO
2001). People with disabilities (PWD) therefore include those who have long-term physical,
mental, intellectual or sensory impairments resulting from any physical or mental disability. (33)
The first step in the rehabilitation of persons with a disability is counseling. There are various
ways of counseling people with such condition such as group counseling or individual
counseling. Group counseling is a way of bringing two or more people together to counsel
them, while individual counseling is with just one person. The essence of this counseling is to let
18

the person, first to be aware of his or her current status and accept it, encourage him/her not to
give up on himself and accept rehabilitation to help re-instate and restore that person to the way
he/she was. During the counseling, stories of successful people with similar disability will be
told in order to improve the persons interest in the rehab.(34)
The other is the rehabilitation. This is done through various means, but for person who just got
blind, it include; the use of typewriter, how to write in Braille, the use of computer, and most of
all, mobility. This will help the person to be independent and empowered to be able to compete
with their sighted counterparts. (35)
BENEFITS OF REHABILITATION
The role of rehabilitation in the global health arena is expanding as persons with disabilities and
other stakeholders are drawing attention to the rights and needs of the growing number of
persons with disabilities. Rehabilitation providers possess unique knowledge and skills to
optimize the care of persons with disabilities. (36)
Rehabilitation can be of significant benefit to an individual who is experiencing a change in his
or her physical abilities. Most people are familiar with the importance of rehabilitation following
surgery, injury, or stroke. Rehabilitation addresses many of the issues and challenges experienced
by individuals with disability. Limitations in movement and other abilities affect many other
aspects of everyday life, and the different types of therapy offered through rehabilitation work to
regain, or find ways to compensate for, lost function. Safety precautions and the prevention of
pressure sores are also vital issues that are promoted through rehabilitation. (37)
EDUCATION OF THE VISUALY IMPAIRED

Efforts to educate people who are blind are of comparatively recent date. No records can be
found of attempts to provide systematic education for blind children in the days of antiquity or
during medieval times. By the end of the 18th century, enlightened humanitarians became
convinced that it was possible for the blind to adapt themselves to the conditions of normal
living. Valentin Hay, a French government employee, began the pioneering work of teaching
the blind in the latter half of the 18th century, founding the first institution for the education of
blind children in Paris in 1784. Hay also taught his blind pupils to read, by touch, raised letters
19

embossed on paper. He not only provided school training in formal subjects in his school, but
also in music and in several trades. (38)
Hay's work set the pattern for institutions that were later founded in Liverpool, England, in
1790; in Vienna, Austria, in 1804; in Berlin, Germany, in 1806; and in other European countries.
Hay also influenced the establishment of the first educational institutions for the blind in the
United States, including the Perkins School for the Blind, formerly of Boston and located now at
Watertown, Massachusetts; the New York Institution for the Blind and today known as the New
York Institute for Special Education; and the Overbrook School for the Blind in Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania, which were established as private philanthropic organizations. The state of Ohio
established a school for the blind in 1837, the first state institution for the education of blind
children in the United States. (39)
In 1824 Louis Braille, a French student and later teacher who was blind himself, invented the
system that enables blind persons to read. It was based on the night writing principle of Charles
Barbier, a captain in the French cavalry, who used a combination of 12 dots that were embossed,
or pressed, into paper to allow military communications to be read at night. Braille's system used
six raised dots arranged in cells of three rows of two. Dots were arranged in different
combinations that blind people feel with their fingertips. The patterns formed a code that spelled
out letters and numbers and symbolized concepts. (40)
Although the Braille system was published in 1829, it was not officially accepted in the United
States until 1916. During that time, Braille advocates argued in favor of three different
embossed-type systems: English Braille, which closely followed the original French Braille;
American Braille, which assigned Braille signs to the letters of the alphabet on the basis of how
often each letter was used in the language; and New York Point, in which dots were arranged in
cells two dots high and one to four dots long. The United States eventually accepted English
Braille as its standard. In 1932 English Braille also became the universal system for the Englishspeaking world. (41)
Braille was first printed using a pointed sharp instrument that elevated small dots on a sheet of
heavy paper. A metal template that clamped over the paper kept it secure while the dots were
inscribed by hand. Printing later was done using presses consisting of two stereotype plates, each
imprinted with the dots for the Braille text being printed. These dots had to be hammered by
20

hand into the plates or the plates were cast in a custom-designed mold. In 1893 the stereotyping
machine was developed, which automated the process of transferring the dots onto the stereotype
plates. A further printing innovation was inter-point printing, which enabled Braille to be printed
on both sides of a page. It was introduced in the United States in the 1920s. These developments
made producing Braille books faster and easier. (42)
In 1858 the American Printing House for the Blind was founded in Louisville, Kentucky, to
produce and distribute books to blind children. In 1879 Congress permanently funded this
national printing house. It produced its first raised-print book in 1866, in which letters were
embossed on the surface of the page, and its first Braille book in 1893. Today publications in
Braille are produced using computer programs that translate print into Braille. The files
containing the Braille text are sent to electronically driven machines that make the printing
plates. (43)
Up until the 1970s, many children with visual impairments in the United States continued to be
educated only in schools for the blind. Today, however, visually impaired children attend regular
classes with their sighted peers in both private and public schools anywhere in the world. In part,
this is due to the many technological innovations for teaching visually impaired people. Braille
can now be automated and printed rapidly using special typewriters or word processors and
Braille printers. Students may also have access to machines that translate Braille into speech.
Audiotape recordings of book texts permit visually impaired people to learn by listening. (44)
Computers equipped with synthetic speech systemsa sound board and microphone for
inputting spoken words and a program to translate those words into a form the computer can use
are also becoming available. These systems are usually combined with a voice output system
to enable the user to verify that the computer has correctly interpreted the input. These systems
are faster than Braille and audiotapes for accessing information. Another innovation is the voice
output print scanner. These systems scan a book into a computer and then convert the text into
voice outputthat is, the computer reads the material out loud in one of a choice of voices.
These devices are useful not only in the classroom, but also in the workplace, permitting blind
adults to be productive in any job. (45)

21

Endnotes
1. Thomas W. Jones, "Blindness." Microsoft Encarta 2009 [DVD]. Redmond, WA:
Microsoft Corporation, 2008.
2. Ibid.
3. Ibid.
4. Ibid.
5. Ibid.
6. Ibid.
7. Ibid.
8. Ibid.
9. Ibid.
10. Ibid.
11. Doctor Benedict Onwunmere, (an optician), 42 years, in discussion with the author in his
office, 20th of May, 2015.
12. Ibid, Microsoft Encarta.
13. Ibid.
14. Ibid.
15. Ibid, doctor.
16. Ibid, Microsoft Encarta
17. Ibid, doctor Ben.
18. Ibid.
19. Ibid, Microsoft Encarta.
20. Ibid, doctor Ben.
21. WWW. roisin.fitzgerald@rehab.ie./ history of rehab, cited on 23rd March 2015
22. Ibid.
23. "Rehabilitation." Microsoft Encarta 2009 [DVD]. Redmond, WA: Microsoft
Corporation, 2008.
24. Ibid.
25. ibid, history of rehab.
26. http://www.wisegeekhealth.com/the-different-types-of-rehabilitationprograms.htm#comments, Cited on 8, July 2015.
27. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drug_rehabilitation, cited on 8 July, 2015.
28. Ibid, wisegeekhealth.
29. Ibid.
30. Ibid.
31. Ibid.
32. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vocational_rehabilitation.
33. Celia Pechak, Mary Thompson, disability and rehabilitation in developing countries
(Texas Womans University & Health Volunteers Overseas Dallas, Texas) 2007.
34. Miss Ikeji Amaka, ( Braille embosser operator), 33 years, in discussion with the author at
the conference room, ANWAB, 17 , 2014.
35. Ibid.
36. International Society of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation:www.isprm.org/who, cited,
8th February, 2015.
22

37. Burks JS, Johnson KP, Multiple Sclerosis; Diagnosis, Medical Management, and
Rehabilitation, (Demos Medical Publishing, New York, 2000).
38. Ibid.
39. Ibid.
40. Ibid.
41. Ibid.
42. Ibid.
43. Ibid.
44. Ibid.
45. Ibid.

CHAPTER THREE
A BRIEF HISTORY OF ANWAB
The Anglo-Nigerian Welfare Association for the Blind (ANWAB) was founded in the United
Kingdom in 1994 and began its Nigerian operations in 1996. It is a non-profit, charitable NonGovernmental Organization. (1)
It was first registered as a charity in the UK in December 1994 and registered with the Corporate
Affairs Commission in Nigeria in November 1995. The Associations centre commenced
operations

in

Nigeria

October

1996.(2)

Being a charitable non-governmental organization, ANWAB has to fend for itself as it does not
receive any subvention from any State or Federal Government. It has to source for funds from
within and outside Nigeria, from corporate organizations, charitable trusts and well-meaning
individuals, but most especially from collaborators in UK and the U.S. (3)

23

ANWAB UK
The objects of ANWAB UK are the relief of blind or partially sighted people, in particular in the
country of Nigeria or other parts of Africa, and assistance in their educational welfare. ANWAB
UK also helps to promote understanding within the United Kingdom of the plight of blind
persons in Nigeria by the regular issue of a newsletter to Friends of the Association; and by
raising funds and inviting contributions from schools, charitable trusts, churches, corporations
and the public.(4)
The chief sponsor and fund raiser of the Centre is ANWAB UK which is incorporated under a
Memorandum and Articles of Association and is a registered charity in the United Kingdom. (5)
However, the body which ANWAB get funds from has presently folds up. The reason for this
according to the director, is that the people running it are aged and no body to keep it running,
which means that the organization is left to source for fund on its own which it get through the
sale of Braille material, though at a subsidized rate.(6)
The Chairman of ANWAB U.K. is Mr. John Bush (now aged 93). Other charity trustees include
Mr. Rodney Little, Mr. Adeyemi Dada, Mar. Solomon Odeleye, Mr. and Mrs. John Simpson and
Mrs. Ella Priest. (7)

ITS ESTABLISHMENT
ANWAB was established in Nigeria by Mr. Danlami Basharu, the director. It came to be as a
result of finding a way to reinstate the blind people in Nigeria into the society. The director,
Danlami Bashar realized that blind people needed a lot of support that and only one or two
organizations will not be sufficient for them. In 1993, he got a scholarship into Cambridge
University to study law. After several discussions with his friends in the UK concerning the
proposed organization; he took with him the proposal of ANWAB, written by him so as to work
on it. With several effort that was invested in the following up of its establishment, ANWAB was
finally registered in UK in 1994 with the Royal National Institute for the Blind (RNIB, the
provider for the blind materials in UK). Because of the prior agreement that its operation centre
will be in Nigeria, in other to bring the services they provide to the Blind people in Nigeria. In
November 1995, the organization was registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission in
Nigeria and begins operations in October 2 nd, 1996. That is why it is called ANGLO-NIGERIAN
24

WELFARE ASSOCIATION FOR THE BLIND (efforts between the British and the Nigerian
people to provide blind services. (8)
CREATION OF AWARENESS
When it started operation in October 1996, much awareness was not necessary because there was
already a similar organization that provides blind materials for students; Naija-wives Braille
books production centre. This organization was established by the British women that got
married to Nigerian men; going by the name. In order to reduce the burdened on them, they also
created some sort of awareness for blind students in their respective schools. For instance, the
Soro-optimist Braille center in the University of Lagos is an arm of this Organization. Also the
Nigerian Association for the Blind (NAB), in all their chapters throughout the country created an
awareness of the Organization. (9)
ITS SERVICES
ANWABs main operations base is the Centre for the Blind in Lagos, Nigeria where it focuses on
the brailing of books and other printed matter to provide the entire syllabus of textbooks in
Braille for blind children in secondary and tertiary educational institutions throughout Nigeria.
The Centre is located at 275 Herbert Macaulay Way, Alagomeji Yaba Lagos, Nigeria. (10).
ANWAB Centre for the blind in Lagos, with the aid of computer- Braille production facilities,
the centre carries out the transcription of text books and notes in Braille for blind students;
conduct rehabilitation classes in Braille, mobility and typewriting as well as computer training;
operate an internet caf for the blind and provide library services and generally provides
guidance and counseling for newly Blinded people, including information on the Blind to the
general public. (11)
The Centre cannot be self-financing because there services are highly subsidized. The fees for
the rehabilitation classes, i.e., training in Braille, mobility and typing for newly blind adults - are
just nominal fees that bear no relation to the actual cost of providing the training. Therefore,
ANWAB source for funds through donations from philanthropist, churches, NGOs and through
the sales of Braille materials (12)
AIMS AND OBJECTIVE
AIMS

25

ANWABs is a non-profit non-governmental registered charitable association; its main aim is to

create an enabling environment that will foster independence of blind people generally through
education and welfare. Serious attention is paid to the interests of all blind people, particularly
blind women. ANWAB is working actively with collaborators in the United Kingdom; the
Association was founded in 1994 in order to help alleviate the many obstacles facing the blind
people of Nigeria (13)
OBJECTIVES:
Its main objective is to help alleviate the many problems encountered by blind and visually
impaired persons in Nigeria. (14)
The provision of reading materials in Braille or audiotape, training & and an independent living
for all blind persons. (15)
Eradication of poverty among the human race in general and persons with poor eyesight in
particular. (16)
Create enlightenment programmes through the media that will bring about awareness and
understanding of the difficulties faced by persons with disability, especially the blind. (17)
Work towards the passage of a national disability law in Nigeria for persons with poor eyesight.
(18)
Help to find education and employment opportunities for the blind;
Promoting the setting up of mobility trainings for blind people. (19)
MISSION AND VISION STATEMENT
MISSION: To help the Blind to achieve daily independence and good life while working with
concerned stake holders to ensure full inclusion of the blind into the society. (20)
VISION: to be a leading provider of technology and educational facilities that crate
independence for the blind. (21)
MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE

26

ANWAB has a Management Committee which helps to raise funds and supervise the day-to-day
operations of the organization, along with the Centres Director, Mr. Danlami Basharu, a visually
impaired Nigerian lawyer with wide experience in disability issues and interaction with the
media. He has qualifications in Education, Management and Law from the University College of
Wales, Durham University Business School, Cambridge University and the Nigerian Law School
respectively. (22)
The Chairman of the Management Committee,

Mr. Ogie Eboigbe, a retired banker and

Communications Consultant, took over in November 2007 from Mrs. Jean Obi, (MBE, MFR),
who was the first Chairman of the organization. The Vice-Chairperson is Mrs. Barbara Wey, a
marketing executive who also works in the Lagos State civil service. (23)
OTHER MEMBERS OF COMMITTE
Other members of the Management Committee are Dr. Mosunmade Faderin, an ophthalmic
surgeon, Lagos; Mr. David Okon, a visually impaired executive of First Bank of Nigeria Plc and
Mrs. A.A. Koya, a retired teacher. The Trustees of ANWAB are Mrs Jean Obi, MBE, Mr.
Danlami Basharu, Mrs. Janet Ohiwerei and Mr. Ukay Kalu as recorded with the Corporate
Affairs Commission of Nigeria. The associations patrons are Mr. Fola Adeola, former Managing
Director of Guaranty Trust Bank Plc and founder of Fate Foundation and Senator Dr. Bode
Olajumoke, a Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The late respected Nigerian Minister of
Health, Professor Olikoye Ransome-Kuti was a patron of ANWAB. (24)

The Management Committee in Nigeria is answerable to the Executive Committee of the

Association in the U.K. who act for the trustees of the Charity Commissioners. The Committee
also submits financial statements and progress reports to U.K. (25)
THE STAFFS AND VOLUNTEERS
ANWABs staff strength is currently as follows:
Mr. Danlami Basharu, Director
Mr. Kola Adewale, Office Manager and Computer Editor
Mr. Cajetan Duru, Senior Proof Reader and Head of Production
27

Miss Folake Obashoro, Administrative Officer

Mrs. Juliet Agommuoh, Secretary
Mr. Isaac Adegbola, Computer Trainer
Miss Abiodun Abioye, Computer-Braille Editor
Mr. Taofeek Gbadeyanka, Outreach Officer
Miss Funmi Aroye, Rehabilitation Officer
Miss Amaka Ikeji, Embosser Operator
Mr. Sheriff Olatunji, Embosser Operator
Miss Comfort Esang, Office Assistant
Mr. Friday Imohimi, driver. (26)
VOLUNTEERS
ANWAB welcomes the help and support it gets from volunteers. Apart from local volunteers, the
International Council on Youth Exchange (ICYE) Programme also sends in foreign volunteers to
help. (27)
However, there are other people who volunteer to help them especially in the area of proof
reading, both individual and from NGOs. Example individual from
Lions club (lion Mrs Oyebanji) and a host of others. These volunteers are allowed to come at
their free will because they are not been paid for their services (28). All the instructors are blind,
some of them did their rehabilitation there probably after their secondary education, furthered
their education in the university or colleges of education in Nigeria and decided to come back to
teach the latter generation. While others attended special school right from the primary level. For
example, most of them got blind since they were small and went to Pacelli School for the Blind,
located at Surulere, Lagos.The school also has a typewriting teacher who teaches students how to
use and maneuver a typewriter keyboard which they later came back to impact the newly blinded
once.(29)
HISTORICAL HIGHLIGHTS
28

ANWAB has from inception achieved the following and then improved on them. This includes;
November 1996: Braille transcription of the very first text books for blind students at Queens
College, Yaba, Lagos.
January 1997: Commencement of the transcription of examination question papers into Braille
for blind students at Queens College, Kings College, Federal Government College, Ijanikin and
Ansarudeen College, all in Lagos.
September 1999: Fabrication of locally made guide canes for the blind and styluses for writing;
introduction of computer training for the blind.
October 2002: First National Chess Championship for the blind.
December 2005: Conferment of National Award of the Member of the Federal Republic of
Nigeria (MFR) on Mr. John Bush, Chairman of ANWAB UK.
October 2006: Tenth anniversary of ANWAB celebration of White Cane Day and Second
National Chess Championship.
March 2007: Launching of Ford Foundation projects Internet Caf for the blind, Computer
training Facilities and a bus for the centre.
August 2008: First ANWAB OPEN DAY; First Mobility and Orientation TRAIN-THETRAINERS workshop for the Southern states held in Lagos sponsored by Ford Foundation
September 2008: Participation at the Ford Foundation exhibition.
October 2008: Production and launching of the 1999 Nigerian Constitution in Braille sponsored
by Network Project for the Disabled (NPD).
July 2009: Production of the Uwais Electoral Reform Recommendations sponsored by the
International Republican Institute
August 2009: Second Orientation and Mobility Train-the-Trainers Workshop for Northern States
held in Kaduna sponsored by Ford Foundation.
October 2nd 2009: DINNER IN THE DARK fund raising dinner designed to raise funds for the
centre sponsored by Lions Club, District 404 B Nigeria. (30)
29

Endnotes
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

Basharu Danlami, (ANWAB Profile), collected on 20th April, 2015

Ibid.
Ibid.
Ibid.
Ibid.
Mr. Danlami Basharu, (director of ANWAB) 55 years, in discussion with the author, in

his office, 20th April, 2015

7. ibid. ANWAB profile.
8. Ibid, Mr. Danlami Basharu.
9. Ibid.
10. www.anwabnigeria.org/anwabprofile.html, accessed 15th of February, 2015
11. Ibid. anwabnigeria.org/profile.html
12. Ibid.
13. Ibid.
14. Ibid, Danlami Basharu.
30

15. Ibid.
16. Ibid.
17. Ibid.
18. Ibid.
19. Cajetan Duru, (head of production manager and senior proof reader), 44 years, at the
Conference room, in discussion with the author, 17th April 2014.
20. ANWAB Newsletter No. 13, (our mission, our vision), January-June, 2012, collected at
ANWAB, January 10, 2015.
21. Ibid.
22. Ibid ANWAB profile.
23. Interview granted by Mr. Danlami Basharu, (director of ANWAB), 55 years,in his office,
17th February 2015.
24. Ibid.
25. Danlami Basharu, (ANWAB profile), collected at the centre, 20th February, 2015.
26. Ibid
27. Ibid.
28. Mr. Danlami Basharu, (director of ANWAB), 55 years, in discussion with the author, in
his office, 17th February 2015.
29. Mr. Kolawole Adewale, (office manager of ANWAB), 37, in discussion with the author,
Conference room, ANWAB, 17th of February, 2015.
30. Ibid, ANWAB profile.

31

CHAPTER FOUR
ANWAB IMPACT ON THE SOCIETY
INTRODUCTION
Everything, either good or bad has its impact on every society. In this case, rehabilitation programme
which is provided by Anglo-Nigerian Welfare Association for the Blind (ANWAB) has its own
contribution to the lives and family of the affected ones and through them, to the Nigerian society at
large. As a result of this, this chapter will be looking at the various ways through which this
Organization has touched the lives of such persons and through them contributed to the growth of the
society. Also, this chapter will look at the issue of social exclusion of persons with disabilities,
especially the blind and the way this organization has been able to achieve the inclusion of such persons.
KEY FINDINGS AND OBSERVATION
Global Trends regarding Disability and Development
Within the contemporary Nigerian society, there is little appreciation that visual impairment is
fundamentally an issue inexorably link to and rooted in human rights. The common perception,
held by policy- makers and the public at large, is that people having reduced vision and disability
issues are viewed in terms of charity and welfare.
Consequently, this viewpoint is a significant, entrenched factor that seriously militates against
the social inclusion of blind people within the country. (1)
This is manifested in a number of ways. Firstly, at national level, there is no disability
discrimination legislation that has been enacted within Nigeria, despite the fact that two bills
32

have been introduced into the National Assembly. Secondly, there is no form of social protection
for disabled people in Nigeria which exacerbates the level of poverty that they encounter.
Thirdly, the Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development is the lead government
department for disability issues in Nigeria. However, the services that they provide are based on
a charity/welfare approach to disability issues, with demand for such services far outstripping
supply. There are some international NGOs that do supply services to disabled people, but their
geographical coverage is very limited. (2)Consequently, for the vast majority of blind (disabled)
people living in Nigeria, particularly those living in rural areas, there is no access to disability
services whatsoever. Again, this situation compounds the level of social exclusion that they
experience. (3)
There are a plethora of disabled people's organizations (DPOs) that exist in Nigeria, which
operate at the national, state and local levels. However, with a few notable exceptions, the vast
majorities of DPOs have themselves adopted a charity/welfare approach to disability issues, and
have little understanding of a rights-based agenda or the principles of the social model of
disability. Furthermore, within Nigeria there are two national umbrella of DPOs, (the Joint
National Association of Persons with Disabilities (JONAWPD), and the Association for the
Comprehensive Empowerment of Nigerians with Disabilities (ASCEND), each perceives itself
to be the authentic and representative voice of disabled people. However, there is a great deal of
conflict that exists between these two organizations, which has a serious negative impact upon
their ability to effectively lobby the Nigerian Government to implement a rights-based agenda to
disability issues. In addition, the vast majorities of the leaders of the disability movement are
based in urban areas, and have little comprehension of the issues encountered by disabled people
living in rural communities.
Until the Nigerian Government has passed disability discrimination legislation, and developed an
effective and efficient administrative infrastructure for its effective implementation, it will be
virtually impossible for Nigeria to ratify the UN Convention on the Rights and Dignities of
Persons with Disabilities. (4)
DISABILITY LEGISLATION IN NIGERIA
One of the major challenges of the people living with disability in this country is the fact that the
Nigerian government has no concern about them; therefore getting a legislation to protect their
rights in the country has been difficult despite their efforts. Hence, fighting for social inclusion
has been their priority.

33

According to a paper delivered by Jonathan Nda-Isiah (a Nigerian senator) titled senates lifeline for people living with disabilities, on the 5th of May, 2014 by 5:03 am, captured by the
leadership news, the challenges of these people was extensively discussed, especially getting
their bill be signed into law.
In that presentation, Jonathan admitted that the people living with disabilities in Nigeria are over
percent of the countrys population and they are treated like second hand citizens. They are
discriminated against in work places, schools even in religious places. They lack good access to
quality education, work, shelter and sometimes, relationships. These people go through hardship
everyday and they are hardly accepted or integrated into the society and above all, have no
legislation protecting their rights in the country.
He further argued that people living with disabilities, though, not recognized by the government,
have in one way or the other contributed to the glory and growth of this country. He gave two
instances such as the efforts of Cohbams Asuquo, one of the Nigerias greatest talented artistes
and producer, whose productions have earned him claims not just in Nigeria but outside the
country. And also that of the Nigerian Para Olympic Team (NPOT), who won medal for the
country in the 2012 London Olympics.
He also mentioned the efforts of the disabled people in a bid to get legislation to protect their
rights in the country. He stated twice, the bill has been passed into law and like all PRIVATE
BILL in the country; it has not been assented to by president Good luck Jonathan, despite the fact
that Nigeria is a signatory to the UN Convention on the Rights of persons with disabilities, which
under the 4th Article of the Convention mandates all member states to pass national legislation on
disability. The bill was once again passed after several months, this time around sponsored by
Senator Nurudeen, Usman (PDP Kogi). The bill was titled Discrimination against persons with
disabilities (prohibition). The bill seeks to integrate such persons into the society and
established a commission for all persons with disabilities, as well as penalty for anyone who
contravenes the law. Among other things, the bill provided that from the time

of its

commencement, all future public building and structure, either moveable or non-movable should
be made accessible to persons with a disability. Also that, five percent employment should be
reserved in all public organization (that has from 50 employees and above) for persons with
disabilities. Such people also have the right to participate in politics. The bill however, has not
yet gotten presidential approval. Such bill would have given the disabled people the right to
enjoy the privileges enjoyed by their other able bodied counterparts which would go a long way
in the inclusion of the people with disability into the society. (5)
34

Another paper, titled: Making a case for the disabled people in Nigeria was presented by Senator
Nurudeen Abatemi Usman, Vice-Chairman Senate Committee on Niger-Delta Affairs at a
program organized by Women with disabilities in Abuja on February 15, 2015.
He stated Nigeria is a country that occupies 923, 768 sq km in West Africa, making her the 32
largest Nation in the world. It comprises 36 States and has a population of more than 162
million, making it the most populous Black Nation in Africa and the world at large. With its vast
land-mass, natural resources and population comes huge responsibilities not just to the world and
to the African continent, but to her citizens, ABLE and the DISABLED. Disability in Nigeria
has become more of an afterthought issue, rather than a matter of priority with about 19 million
people in Nigeria living with a form of disability and more than 1 billion world-wide. The main
purpose of the lecture, according to the author was to examine the disability laws obtainable in
Nigeria and compare them with the existing ones in the developed/developing countries around
the world. He chooses two case studies, such as South-Africa and the United Kingdom; being
countries with a comprehensive disability Legislation and policy implementation for disability.
He started with South-Africa, highlighted the achievements that was linked to the development
of the new legislation and policy in the country. South Africa possesses one of the most
comprehensive disability rights legislation and policy regimes in the world, and disabled people
are involved at all levels of government. This research was commissioned to investigate the
extent to which policies and legislation have been implemented by the South African
government. Some of these achievements include: (i) The development and the adoption of the
White Paper on Disability on an Integrated National Disability Strategy, known as INDS; (ii)The
South African government can currently determine employment-equity quotas that apply to the
private and public sector regarding the employment of disabled people through the Employment
Equity Act (EEA) of 1998; (iii) Increasing the basic disability grant and the extension of its
provisions to a wider sector of people through the Social Assistance Act; (iv) Introduction of
policy on inclusive education through the White Paper on Special Needs Education; (v) Actively
participating in continental and international initiatives on improving the lives of disabled
people, such as the Africa Decade of People with Disabilities, and participating in the
development of the United Nations Convention on the rights of disabled people; (vi) Providing
free primary health care to disabled people affected by poverty; (vii) Establishing the Equity
Court; (viii) Establishing the Office on the Status of Disabled People in the Presidency, and at
provincial levels; (ix) Establishing Disability Desks and Units in many departments within all
spheres of government. Although, the South African government have formulated and adopted
35

the policy that supports the rights of people with disabilities in their country, however, it is
noteworthy that implementing these polices remains a major CHALLENGE. He argued that
policy implementation issues are not addressed consistently at various government levels for
various reasons: Limited conceptual understanding, inadequate or inappropriate institutional
arrangements, the definition and nature of disabled peoples participation have not been
adequately reviewed and articulated, to mention but a few. But the consisted advocacy led by the
Disabled People South Africa (DPSA) made the needs of the disabled people in South Africa
known to the South-African government.
In the case of the UK, people with disability are protected by the Disability Discrimination Act
1995 (as amended) (DDA) for England, Scotland and Wales, and the Special Educational Needs
and Disability (Northern Ireland) Order 2005 (as amended). The Disability Discrimination Act
(DDA) defines a disabled person as someone who has a physical or mental impairment that has
a substantial and long-term adverse effect on his or her ability to carry out normal day-to-day
activities.
People who have had a disability in the past that meets this definition are also covered by the
scope of the Act. There are additional provisions relating to people with progressive conditions.
The DDA 2005 amended the definition of disability. It ensured that people with HIV, cancer and
multiple sclerosis are deemed to be covered by the DDA effectively from the point of diagnosis,
rather than from the point when the condition has some adverse effects on their ability to carry
out normal day-to-day activities.
The achievement of the DDA 2005 includes the new duty it places on public bodies from local
authorities, to healthcare, to education providers to promote equality of opportunity for disabled
people, similar to the duty to promote under the Race Relations Act. This duty, which came into
force in December 2006, meant that public authorities will need to have due regard to the need
to eliminate discrimination against, and harassment of, disabled people; promote equality of
opportunity for disabled people; promote positive attitudes towards disabled people; and
encourage disabled people to take part in public life. In the context of Higher Education
Institutions (HEIs), it encourages academic staff to review their learning, teaching and
assessment methods to become more inclusive for disabled students.

36

Having looked at South Africa and the UK, let us now look at what obtains at home.
Corroborating the fact mentioned by Senator Isiah, he stated Unfortunately, Nigeria does not
have any legislation currently safeguarding the rights of people with disability. It would be unfair
to say Nigeria does not care for the disabled and it is important to note that Nigeria is a signatory
to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), and it accompanying
Optional Protocol. However, it is important to note that Article 4 of the UN Convention identifies
general and specific obligations on States (including Nigeria) and parties in relation to the rights
of persons with disabilities. One of the fundamental obligations contained in the Convention is
that national law should guarantee the enjoyment of the rights enumerated in the Convention.
Part of those mandatory rights are enacting and passing a bill, which must include the
establishment of a monitoring commission.
Again, it would be unfair to say that the Nigerian government is not sensitive to the plight of
people living with disability. Currently in the 7th Senate of the National Assembly, a bill titled
an Act to Ensure Full Integration of Persons with Disabilities and to establish a National
Commission for Persons with Disabilities and Vest it with the Responsibilities for Their
Education, Health Care and the Protection of their Social Economic and Civil Rights is before
the Senate. This bill, which is sponsored by me with the support of my colleagues, is an
improved version of a similar bill sent to the 6th Senate. It brings together attainable standards
from other countries including the two cases examined. This bill seeks to secure the rights of
Nigerians living with disability. Protect them, and reaffirm their faith in themselves but most
especially in their country, Nigeria. The Disability Bill has faced challenges such as funding. The
commitment of donor agencies dependent on an initial commitment from the Nigerian
government is commendable and appreciated.
He agreed to the fact that the bill, if approved will address the issues of poverty; unemployment;
education of children and young people with disabilities; access to security and assistive devices;
access to housing, public health services and transport. I believe that Nigeria can gain
immensely from countries that have effective legislation and policy implementation regarding
disability, not using them merely as case studies or examples but as standards to be emulated. We
should also learn from how other countries have been able to overcome some of the challenges in
policy implementation. We recognize that even after the adoption of the new legislation; we will
face implementation challenges probably similar to the case in South Africa, where robust
37

legislative framework has been challenged by the reasons stated earlier. Nonetheless, the
Nigerian government can resolve some of these impediments via: sensitization and training of
agencies responsible for implementation; strengthening of Advocacy by disabled population;
greater public sensitization about disabled rights; better oversight by National Assembly of
agencies charged with implementing policy, etc.(6)
The struggle by the disabled people to get their bill into law continued and up till this year, the
presidential approval has been a major barrier in this struggle.

SOCIETAL DISCRIMINATION OF THE PEOPLE LIVING WITH DISABILITY

ATTITUDE TOWARDS DISABILITY

There is also the issue with the general attitude towards the disabled people, not only in Nigeria
but also outside Nigeria. This was articulated in the literature review on attitude towards
disability by a senior researcher of the National Disability Authority (NDA), Frances Hannon.
This study examined attitudes to equality, education, employment, state benefits and public
services for people with disabilities.
At the 2006 NDA Research Conference in Dublin, Bert Massie, Chairperson of the UK
Disability Rights Commission, said: Attitudes to disability are the major barrier to disabled
peoples full participation...From pity, awkwardness and fear, to low expectations about what
disabled people can contribute, stereotypical and negative attitudes hold people back (Massie,
2006). People with disabilities regularly identify societal attitudes as the most potent and
negative stressor in their lives... (Voh,1993).
As long as negative attitudes persist, the full rightful acceptance of people with disabilities is
unlikely (Nowicki, 2006 citing Antonak et al, 2000). Recognizing that persons with disabilities
are still exposed to and oppressed by prejudice and discrimination may be the first step in
reducing prejudice (Genesi 2007 citing Marks, 1997). In Everybody Belongs Shapiro (2000)
discusses how negative myths and stereotypes continue to create ingrained prejudices toward
people with disabilities. These prejudices are reflected in negative attitudes and behavior, which
can impede the participation of people with disabilities in social, educational and vocational

38

contexts (White et al, 2006 citing Rao, 2004; Rubin et al 1995; Rusch et al, 1995). Swain et al
(1993) review the extensive range of barriers faced by people with disabilities.
Rosenthal et al (2006) cite studies including Brodwin et al (2002), Cook et al (1998), Livenh et
al (1997) and Smart (2002) that demonstrate how negative social attitudes block the integration
of people with disabilities into society.
In addition to the above studies, Chen (2002) cites others that also demonstrate the constrictive
effects of negative societal attitudes in preventing individuals with disabilities from
mainstreaming into society. These include Arokiasamy et al (2001), De Loach (1994), Moore
et al (1999), Orange (2002) and Yuker (1994, 1995). Deal (2006) also cites studies that
demonstrate that attitudes towards people with disabilities are predominantly negative including
DuBrow (1965), English et al (1971), Florian et al (1987), Gething (1991), Lee and Rodda
(1994), Fries (1997), Stiker (1997) and Christie et al (2000).
Negative attitudes are linked to behaviors such as social rejection and maintenance of higher
levels of social distance toward persons with disabilities (Olkin et al, 1994; Wright 1983; and
White et al, 2006 citing Davis, 1961; Evans, 1976 and Link et al, 1999).
Negative attitudes resulting in discrimination in the workplace continues to be a significant
problem for people with disabilities (Brostrand, 2006 citing Antonak et al, 2000; Lebed, 1985;
Scope, 2003; and Shapiro, 1994). In spite of the 1990 ADA legislation in the USA,
discrimination at work, rooted in negative attitudes, continues to adversely affect employment
outcomes (Brostrand, 2006 citing Kennedy et al, 2001).
Societal attitudes influence social policy and legislation and there is support for the societal
attitudes theory that public attitudes dictate, to a considerable extent social policy (Hewes et al,
1998 citing Hahn, 1985 and others).
Negative public attitudes can be a formidable barrier to the success of particular policies because
the public significantly influences how much importance is given to an issue. This situation is
not helped by the fact that disabled people are under-represented in the public sector,
particularly in strategic and management positions. They are under-represented where decisions
about policy and service provision are taken (Massie, 2006).
While many researchers highlight the fact that negative attitudes to disability persist, including
Antonak et al (2000), Brostrand (2006), Byrd et al (1988) Link et al (1999), White et al (2006),
Livenh (1991) and Longoria et al (2006), as well as those mentioned earlier, there is also
evidence that attitudes to disability are improving. (7)

39

The 2006 NDA Survey of Attitudes to Disability in Ireland suggests that attitudes to disability
are improving in Ireland. These findings are discussed throughout this literature review in the
context of national and international research findings.
In England, Deal (2006) in his doctoral research found that people with and without disabilities
had similar attitudes to disability. These attitudes fell within the positive threshold of the scale,
reflecting a positive attitude towards disability. More negative attitudes were found in both
groups when a subtle prejudice subscale was used. People with disabilities who voluntarily met
with other people with disabilities collectively held the most positive attitudes of all towards
disability.
In the 2004 Canadian Attitudes Survey (Office of Disability Issues, Canada) there was broad
agreement among people with and without disabilities that progress had been made towards
including people with disabilities in Canadian society. However, respondents considered that
people with disabilities still faced numerous barriers, first and foremost negative attitudes and
prejudices of other people and society. (8)
In the UK 2002 Attitudes Towards Disability Study, Disabled for Life (Grewal et al, 2002),
commissioned by the Department for Work and Pensions (DPG), the majority of the 2064
respondents, of whom 47% had a disability, thought that the position of people with disabilities
had improved in the prior two decades but that strong attitudinal and structural barriers remained.
The study showed a continuum of attitudes towards disability from inclusive attitudes,
characterized by a positive view of the lives of people with disabilities and a broad definition of
disability to exclusionary attitudes that focused on differences negatively. Diversity in Disability
(Molloy et al, 2003), a follow-on qualitative study from the 2002 UK Survey, Disabled for Life,
also commissioned by the DPG, involved 103 people with disabilities. Participants in the study
believed that progress had been made in society and that opportunities for people with
disabilities had substantially increased. They described a range of life experiences and attitudes.
They considered that negative attitudes to disability can lead to low self esteem, restricted
opportunities for people with disabilities to fully participate in key areas of life and ongoing
adverse effects on the physical and mental health of people with disabilities. (9)
Defining and understanding attitudes
There is no universally accepted and agreed definition of what attitudes are. According to NDA,
and especially the various texts they had reviewed, definitions of attitudes include the following:

40

Attitudes are relatively stable mental positions held toward ideas, objects or people (Gleitman
1991 cited by Eby et al, 1998)
Attitudes are a combination of beliefs and feelings that predispose a person to behave a certain
way (Noe, 2002, p 108 cited by Brostrand, 2006)
Attitude is an idea charged with emotion which predisposes a class of actions in particular class
of social situations (Antonak, 1988, p.109)
An attitude is a mental or neural state of readiness, organized through experience, exerting a
directive or dynamic influence on the individuals response to all objects and situations to which
it is related (Allport, 1935)
An attitude is an idea (cognitive component) charged with emotion (affective component)
which predisposes a class of actions (behavioural component) to a particular class of social
situations (Triandis et al, 1984, p. 21).
As can be seen in the above definitions, attitudes are often defined in terms of mood, thought
processes, behavioral tendencies and evaluation (Hernandez et al, 2000).
Cognitive, affective and behavioral evaluations are central to the notion of attitudes. Cognitive
evaluations refer to thoughts people have about the attitude object. Affective evaluations refer to
feelings or emotions people have in relation to the attitude object.
Behavioral evaluations refer to peoples actions with respect to the attitude object. (NDA)
The attitude object in this literature review and in the Surveys of Attitudes to Disability in Ireland
is mainly the notion of disability but also includes people with disabilities and disability issues.
While attitudes can be thought of as internal individual processes, they link each person to a
social world of other people, activities and issues, including people who are actively engaged in
helping form or change attitudes (Eby et al 1998 citing Zimbardo, 1985). Thus, attitudes are part
of a framework by which we interpret our social environment. (ibid)
Attitudes represent relatively stable attributes and, at the same time, they appear to be learned
rather than innate (Zimbardo et al, 1969 cited by Eby et al, 1998). Social learning theory
highlights the process of acquisition of knowledge and attitudes from important others, such as
parents, teachers, peers, and media figures (Bandura, 1977).
41

Current thinking favors a relationship between attitudes and behavior and researchers no longer
question if attitudes predict behaviors but under which circumstances do attitudes predict
behaviors (Bentler et al, 1981; Cialdini et al, 1981 cited by Eby et al, 1998). Behavior is related
to attitudes in complex ways. A number of studies have found that differences in the extent to
which attitudes guide behavior result from differences in how easily or quickly a person retrieves
the attitude from memory (Olson et al, 1993; Sherman et al, 1989). Other factors that mediate the
relationship between attitudes and behavior include habit or past behavior (e.g., Triandis, 1977),
stability of attitudes over time (Schwartz, 1978), volitional control of behavior (Davidson et al,
1979), and the degree of direct experience with the attitude object (e.g., Regan et al, 1977;
Zimbardo, 1985).
Gender, age and a range of factors can influence attitudes. Gender differences in attitudes may be
because of gender based response biases rather than because of disability biases. Research on
children for example has shown that children prefer to associate with their own gender (Sippola,
1997). Rosenthal et al (2006) in the USA examined rehabilitation students attitudes towards
persons with disabilities in high-and low-stake social contexts. They found that attitude was
significantly affected by client characteristics unrelated to disability including age and race or
ethnicity and factors influencing attitude formation differed across the two social contexts. Age
and disability type were most involved in the decision making process in the low-stakes group
while performance related variables were most important in the high-stakes context. (10)
SOCIAL MODEL OF DISABILITY
The social model of disability is a reaction to the dominant medical model of disability which in
itself is functional analysis of the body as machine to be fixed in order to confirm normative
values. The social model of disability identifies systemic barriers, negative attitudes and
exclusion by society (purposely or inadvertently) that mean society is the main contributory
factor in disabling people. While physical, sensory intellectual, psychological variations may
cause individual functional limitation or impairments, these do not have to lead to disability
unless society fails to account of and include people regardless of their individual differences.
(11)
Disabled people have arrived at a different model to help understand the situation. They are
challenging people to give up the idea that disability is a medical problem requiring treatment,
but to understand instead that disability is a problem of exclusion from ordinary life. This is what
is known as the social model of disability, requiring a change in the societys values and

42

practices in order to remove the barriers to participation that truly discriminate against disabled
people. It is clear that this is possible.(12)
The understanding and acceptance of social model of disability by non-disabled people builds a
community of allies that speeds the progress of attitudinal change. This in-turn will have a
positive impact on creating a barrier-free society that will gain the full benefit of the talents and
contributions of all its citizens, and in which the disabled people will take their rightful place in
education, the workforce and all aspects of community life.(13)
A fundamental aspect of social model concerns equality. The struggle for equality is often
compared to the struggle of other socially marginalized groups. Equal rights are said to give
empowerment and the ability to make decisions and the opportunity to live life to the fullest.
The Nigerian Policy Context with Regard to Disability Issues
The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that there are approximately 4 million blind
people living in Nigeria, (equivalent to 5% of the country's total population), although there are
no robust, statistical data that either confirms or refutes this estimate.
However, what is very apparent is that disabled people constitute one of the poorest, socially
excluded and marginalized groups within Nigerian society. Meetings held with the National
Planning Commission and the National Bureau for Statistics confirmed that there are no reliable
statistics on disability in Nigeria, which compounds the problems of planning and evaluating any
services provided by the public sector. (14)
This situation is reinforced and compounded by deep-seated, ingrained underlying factors and
attitudes that underpin Nigerian society and that have arisen from the country's recent history.
These underlying factors not only have a detrimental effect upon visually impaired people, but
also apply to other marginalized and socially excluded groups. Firstly, with regard to social
policy in general, and particularly with respect to disability issues, there is an underlying
ideological belief that these should be addressed through "charity and welfare". (15) Excepting
the specific case of industrial injuries benefit and war pensions, social right that was directed to
the special subsistence needs of disabled people have lagged behind the development of other
rights. To that end, Hartley Dean in his book, Welfare rights and social policy established that, at
a time when the cause of human right is high on the global political agenda, the central question
was why the status of welfare rights as an element of human right remains ambiguous. The book
describes a clutch of benefits that were first introduced in the 1970s in order to supplement
43

benefit provision for severely disabled people. Right to social security, employment, housing,
education, health and social care are critical to human well being. (16)
Hence, social policy issues in Nigeria are categorically not perceived in terms of human rights.
Consequently, from a public- policy perspective, there is a prevailing attitude that blind people
should be "cared for". Furthermore, as will be explained below, this charity ethos has even been
embraced by blind people's organizations, example of which is the Nigerian association of the
Blind (NAB)
Nigeria Association of the Blind (NAB) was registered and incorporated under Section 5(II) of
the Land Perpetual Act. Chap. 98 of the Laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in 1968. The
association is a member of the National Advisory Council for the Blind (NNACB).
NAB also exists as a cluster body under The Joint National Association of Persons Living with
Disabilities (JONAPWD) and a member of African Union of the Blind (AFUB) and the World
Blind Union (WBU). Her primary aim is to achieve better living conditions for the blind and
visually impaired persons resident in Nigeria through the promotion of inclusive education,
vocational training, employment, community participation, rights advocacy, increased awareness
about blindness and campaigning for legislation protecting the rights of blind and partially
sighted persons in Nigeria in accordance with the United Nations Convention on Rights of
Persons with Disabilities. (UNCRPWD) (17)
The Role of ANWAB Nigeria
ANWAB established its full country office in Nigeria in 1996, and is working with other bilateral
and multilateral development agencies, particularly with friends in the United Kingdom, where
the Association was first founded in 1994 as charity home in order to help alleviate the many
obstacles facing the blind people of Nigeria in tackling some of the entrenched and deep-seated
development challenges that the blinds are currently facing. (18)
Disability, by definition is the physical or mental impairment that has a substantial and long-term
adverse effect on a persons ability to perform necessary tasks. (19) As said by a visually
impaired person, A disabled person is a frustrated person, in the sense that, the persons status
has automatically been limited or excluded the person in the society. And going by the United
Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UNDHR) which states that all men has the
right to a standard of living adequate for health and well being of himself an
44

family.in

the

event

of

sickness,

disability,

widowed(20),everyone, including the disabled (Blind) has a right to a standard living,

even though there is no legal bill to support that in Nigeria. However, if a disabled person is not
rehabilitated to be able to live up to standard, he or she will be more or less useless to both
him/herself and the society at large. Useless I mean, the person will not do what others are doing.
In order words, will be socially excluded which is one of the most painful thing that can happen
to a disabled person(s).
In order to avoid the issue of social exclusion, to encourage social inclusion especially for the
Bind, ANWAB establish it operation which include giving the already and newly blinded people
rehabilitation program. By doing this, blind people are fully equipped and armed to be able to
face any challenges independently and even compete with their sighted counterparts. They are
able to look out for themselves since the government is not helping. (21)
ANWAB REHABILITATION PROGAMME
In broad terms, ANWAB focus on some main, strategic priorities which are:Braille Education Project
Braille System, method of printing books for use by the blind, consisting of a system of raised
dots embossed in paper by hand or machine and read by touch. Each letter, number, and
punctuation mark is indicated by the number and arrangement of one to six dots in a cell, or
letter space, two dots wide and three dots high. Musical notation also can be transcribed into
Braille. The characters are embossed from the back of the paper, working in reverse direction,
and are read from the face of the paper in normal reading direction. The blind can transcribe
Braille on a slate by using a stylus or on a Braillewriter (which resembles a typewriter) by
striking keys. (22)
The first major project undertaken by ANWAB was a three-year grant fund provided by the
British National Lottery titled BRAILLE EDUCATION PROJECT. This entailed the
employment of extra staff including an outreach officer whose duty was to go round the 36 states
of Nigeria and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, to locate blind students in their various
schools. Information gathered included their books and social welfare needs. With this
information, ANWAB was able to transcribe into Braille hundreds of volumes of books which
were supplied to blind students all round the country at subsidized rates.(23) Apart from
producing Braille books for students, ANWAB train blind people how to use the Braille machine.
45

The use of this machine enables a blind person to effectively handle any written document. First,
the person will learn how to Braille manually with the use of Marburg and stylus (maburg; a
frame with many cells, each cell has six dots that represent the Braille dots and it has twenty
seven lines. Stylus; a sharp needle with a handle at the bottom which is used to make the Braille
dots). (24)

INTERNET CAFE
ANWAB has recently set up, with the help of the Ford Foundation, a dedicated Internet Cafe for
the blind, the first of its kind in Nigeria. The cyber link helps visually impaired people to carry
out research on the world-wide web and generally browse for information and read daily
newspapers online. All computers are fitted with JAWS (speech software to enable access by the
blind). They also provide computer training for both already and newly blinded people. (25)
COMPUTER TRAINING
The Centre, as part of the Ford Foundation also boasts of a Computer Training Unit for training
blind people, including women and girls in computer technology. Training is provided in JAWS
and Open Book scanning.(26) Mr. Adegbola, Kehinde Isaac, (Blind) a computer instructor who
has been working with ANWAB for over seven years said with the proper use of the computer,
a visually impaired person can be fully reinstate into the society, with the knowledge of IT
(information technology), a blind person can compete with their sighted counterparts with the
possibility of excelling and this person will also be in a position to pay tax which is an obligatory
duty of a good citizen. (27)
LIBRARY SERVICES
ANWAB has a full service Braille library with thousands of books donated by institutions in the
UK and the United States. There is also training in Mobility and Independent Living, typing
courses, production of guide canes and styluses for writing locally and provision of recreation
activities for blind people. (28)

46

Image of Mobility training Banner

INDEPENDENT LIVING: Teaching daily living skills is an important aspect of training that
ANWAB give to the blind, especially for women and girls. With the mobility training, a blind
person could move about and go to anywhere with the help of GUIDE CANE (a cane-like
metal). (29)
ANWAB set up the Independent Living room with equipment donated by the Nigerian Institution
of Estate Surveyors. These include one washing machine, a gas cooker and a refrigerator as well
as other household appliances. With these equipments, blind people were trained to live and do
things without depending on anybody. (30)
ACHIEVEMENTS AND CHALLENGES.
CHALLENGES
For every endeavor targeted towards the achievement of a preferred objective, upheavals of
challenges are bound to take place that is why the Holy Bible in Ecclesiastes 9:11 says:
I returned to see under the sun
That the swift do not win the race,
Nor do the understanding ones
The riches because time and unforeseen occurrence befall them. (31)
We all know that there is no rose without thorns. Since ANWAB centre for the blind is a non
profitable organization, the first and the foremost challenge is finance. We should note that
education of the blind is very capital intensive and as such, the Association is always in the need
of financial resources to be able to acquire the equipment that are needed to meet the demands of
their Clients. (32)
According to MR Cajetan Duru, the head of production manager and the senior proof reader who started
working with the organization since inception, that is October 2 nd 1996, meeting the demands of their
47

students which they provide Braille books to has been another great challenge faced by the organization
since it started operation. This is because there no much hands in the area of production and enough
machines such as Braille embossers, enough computer system and software to transcribe words into Braille
language as well as proof readers. (33)
Another area of challenge is the rehabilitation program for the newly blinded people. When a blind person is
being brought to ANWAB (newly), they first counsel them, let them accept the reality about their current
condition and made them understand that it is not the end of the road. In doing this, they give examples of
other blind people who has made it in life as well as other physically challenged people who became
famous. During this period, some people (newly blind) quickly adjust while some will not be convinced. (34)
In fact, according to Amaka Ikeji, one of the Braille embosser operators (blind) who has worked with them
for seven years, said that at the beginning, after taking them through some of the lessons, some of the
students will disappear and those who are really determined will continue. (35)
In order to show how much the blind are willing to eradicate the issue of social exclusion and achieve social
inclusion, this Association tried their best in making sure that all blind persons they come across with get
rehabilitated. According to the director of ANWAB, Mr Bashar Danlami, because he too was brought from
the North where they found him wondering around the city of Kano, he made sure any blind person he come
in contact with get rehabilitated. One major challenge here is that many of these families are poor, they could
bearly feed themselves not to talk of sending their child to any rehabilitation centre. Mr danlami helped most
of these people sort for funds so that they could get the necessary equipment they need to live independent,
since after rehabilitation, many blind may still go about begging just to get money. (36)
Other challenges include; A PERMANENT APARTMENT; despite its services for many people, ANWAB is
in rented apartment which sometimes hinders their training especially the mobility training as students will
not be able move about with their cane.(37)
STAFF SALARIES; due to financial constraint, ANWAB could not pay her staffs on time and they cant
afford to lose any staff to be to fight the battle together since most of their staffs are blind who had been
rehabilitated and could pass the knowledge to the new generation.(38)
LACK OF EQUIPMENT; although, ANWAB has played a great role in reinstating blind people into the
society, but sometimes, lack of equipment hindered the pace of their training.(39)
VOLUNTEER SERVICES; ANWAB needs more willing hands in assisting them in most of their day to day
activities.(40)
48

ACHIEVEMENTS
Effort merely completely releases its incentive after a person refuses to give up. (41) As far as
ANWAB center for the blind is concerned, the effect of summating its challenge is the happiness
of basking in the euphoria. Thus foremost attempt is intended in order to stop their figurative
blows from striking the air. The center has sort to pursue the tune of the conventional heritage
cemented by its founders which in turn has resulted in the achievement of any desire that the
center embarks upon. (42)
Despite the fact that the organization is faced with certain challenges, the organization however
triumph in achieving their aims and objectives which is to help alleviate the many problems
encountered by blind and visually impaired persons in Nigeria. Some of these are as follows;
ANWAB appointed by MTN foundation to implement scholarship scheme for the blind
students; this project was however championed by the Nigerian Association for the Blind, while
ANWAB is the administering body that administers the project. (43) The objective of the
scholarship scheme is to enable the blind students in public tertiary institutions, including
Universities, Polytechnics and Colleges of Education to pursue their education without the fear
of not being able to pay their fees. The agreement was signed in February 2012, for the period of
12 month in the first instance. By April, ANWAB, through publicity, screening and the selection
of eligible students, was able to recruit 113 students spread across the country who were then
offered scholarship by MTNF. On 22nd of April, 2012, the award ceremony for the winners of the
scholarship was held at the Muson centre, Lagos.(44)
ANWAB centre for the blind has wiped out oceans of tears from many parents and guardians by
training and developing their children and the newly blind people into becoming someone in the
society. These people could have otherwise been a burden to their parents and the society due to
their visual disability. That is why the organization says they have turned despair into hope.(45)
Likewise many blind parents have come with their blind children shedding tears. Some are
inconsolable, like one that has four children every day she comes crying. But her tears were
turned to joy at the end of these childrens education. All of them are well placed in the society
now. Their despair has been turned to hope.(46) Many of the pupils from secondary school come
for one year rehabilitation after which they go back to school or write JAMB and go to tertiary
institutions. Example of this category includes; Amuda Kudirat, a 400 level student of the
49

department of History and Strategic studies and Abimbola Adeyinka, a 300 level of the
department of social Work and a host of other who are currently in the university of Lagos,
Akoka, Yaba. And some other schools in Nigeria and around the world.
More blind persons receive rehabilitation course at ANWAB; several blind persons have been
trained from ANWABs rehabilitation and mobility training program. As many blind people
complete their rehabilitation and mobility training, they became independent, could do things
without depending on anybody to help them. As a result, blind people could be what they intend
to become in life regardless of their sight disability and could even compete with their sighted
counterparts. (47)
The information below is the profile of Mr. Damilare Ishola, who is currently in 200 level,
department of Guidance and Counseling in the University of Lagos, when he featured in the 10th
edition of ANWAB Newsletter, 2010.
PROFILE

Mr. Damilare Ishola

There is nothing a sighted person can do that a blind person cannot do better. These are the
words from Mr. Damilare Ishola 38-year old who was once a student at the center.
Mr. Ishola is the victim of a fracas on two different occasions resulting in the loss of his vision:
first, in 2003 when he was trying to assist an old lady who was being assaulted and secondly in
2008, when was returning to his house and unknown to him, he got caught up in a brawl that had
ensued from a nearby get-together. This was just before sitting for his diploma exams. In the
early days of his sight loss, Damilare bemoaned his situation and said that he sought for help
from different churches, medical institutions and friends but to no avail. His friends abandoned
him and he felt all alone until a lady friend at a church he attends advised him to seek help from
the Anglo-Nigerian Welfare Association for the Blind which he promptly did. Damilare has been
50

at ANWAB since June 2010, learning Braille, mobility and typing skills necessary for
rehabilitation. He confirms that he can now read better and move about independently as well as
use the typewriter manually. He believes that he now has a brighter future because at ANWAB he
has been able to integrate himself properly with his blind peers and regained his confidence and
independence. In fact, he states that his friends are now returning to him in droves and his
parents have become very supportive of his situation. With the computer course he did before he
finally Graduated from ANWAB, he returned to school and complete his diploma and further his
education. (48)
Interview granted by Mr. Damilare Ishola revealed the impact of ANWAB in his life and
achievements.
ANWAB LAUNCHES CHESS CLUB FOR THE
BLIND

Blind chess players in action during the launch of ANWAB Chess

Club for the Blind march 12 at National Stadium Lagos
The ANWAB Chess Club for the Blind was formally launched on Saturday 12 March, 2011 at
the Media Centre of the National Stadium, Surulere, Lagos.
Mrs. M. B. Daodu, Deputy Director of Special Education represented the Minister of Women
Affairs and Social Development, Iyom Josephine Anenih and read the Minister's address to
launch the Club. Other government top shots in attendance were Mrs. Bidemi Ganiyu-Opolo,
Secretary of the Nigerian Chess Federation representing the NCF Chairman; Prof.Abisogun
Leigh Olubode, Chairman, Lagos State chess
Association; and Mr. Ikong Etinmo from the National Sports Commission. Mr. Ogie Eboigbe,
ANWAB Chairman, provided direction for the day, Barr. Danlami Basharu, ANWAB Director
and Mr. David Okon, the then President of the Nigeria Association of the Blind (NAB)
supporting. (49)

51

This development is to show that even the government is not doing anything to improve the lives
of these people; they by themselves somehow get a way of developing themselves and
competing with their sighted counterpart, thereby, including themselves into the society

End Note
1. Lang, R. (2006) Human Rights and Disability: A New and Dynamic Perspective with the
United Nations Convention on Disability, Asia Pacific Disability Rehabilitation Journal,
17(1):3-9.
2. ibid
3. Yeo, R., Disability, Poverty and the New Development Agenda, (2005)
www.disabilitykar.net/docs/agenda.doc, cited on 16th of September, 2014.
4. ibid
5. www./leadership.ng/news/369519/senates-lifeline-people-living-disabilities
6. www.sunnewsonline.com/news/making a case for the disabled people in Nigeria
7. Frances Hanon, attitude towards disabilities, National disability authourity
8. Ibid
9. Ibid
10. ibid
11. ibid
12. ibid
13. ibid
14. Lang, R. (2006) Human Rights and Disability: A New and Dynamic Perspective with the
United Nations Convention on Disability, Asia Pacific Disability Rehabilitation Journal,
17(1):3-9.
15. Ibid
16. ibid
17. about us, ,www. Nigeriaasociationoftheblind.org, cited on 30th June, 2015.
18. Interview granted by Mr. Danlami Basharu,(director of ANWAB), 56 years, in his office,
20th , June, 2015.
19. Ibid.
20. Heartley Dean, welfare right and social policy, (Prentice Hall, USA), 2002.
21. Ibid. Danlami Basharu,
22. Microsoft Encarta 2009. 1993-2008 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
23. ibid.
24. Ibid. Danlami Basharu,
25. (ANWAB profile), collected at the centre, 20th June, 2015.
26. ibid.

52

27. Mr. Adegbola, Kehinde Isaac, (computer instructor), 43 years, in the computer room, 17th
June, 2015.
28. (ANWAB profile), collected at the centre, 20th June, 2015.
29. Ibid
30. Ibid
31. King James Version, Holy Bible in Ecclesiastes 9:11
32. Ibid Danlami Basharu
33. Cadjeta Duru, (head of production department and the senior proofreader, ANWAB), 44
years, in discussion with the author at the conference room ANWAB, 17 October, 2014.
34. Miss Ikeji Amaka, ( Braille embosser operator), 33 years, in discussion with the author at
the conference room, ANWAB, 17 October, 2014.
35. Mr Kolawole Adewale, (office manager), 37 years, in discussion with the author in his
office, 17 October, 2014..
36. Ibid.
37. Mr Danlami Basharu, (ANWAB Newsletter 15th edition, 2014), collected on June 17th,
2015
38. ibid
39. Ibid.
40. Ibid.
41. Ibid, Mr Kolawole Adewale.
42. ibid
43. Ibid, ANWAB Newsletter
44. Ibid
45. ibid
46. Ibid, ANWAB Newsletter.
47. Ibid, Mr Kolawole Adewale.
48. Interview granted by Mr. Damilare Ishola, (ex- student of ANWAB), 37 years, at the
Soro-optimist Braille Center, Unilag, 20th June, 2015.
49. Ibid, ANWAB Newsletter

CHAPTER FIVE
CONCLUSION AND RECOMENDATIONS
From the foregoing, it is clear that ANWABs activities has played a great role in the lives of
persons with disabilities in Nigeria through its rehabilitative programs with a large part of their
staffs being visually impaired themselves and most also having being rehabilitated at ANWAB
understands what its like to be disabled hence they are committed to making an impact and
proving to the society that disable persons are not in any way second class citizens but persons
that has constructive contributions in making Nigeria truly the giant of Africa.
53

But it is

important to state again here that it is not yet eureka as many more government policies,
legislative bills passed into law will help build a strong structure for a more inclusive society
where there are no prejudices against disable (blind) persons and they i.e. blind persons see
themselves as a real part of the Nigerian polity. Corporations doing business in Nigeria will have
to take on the responsibility of rehabilitation and reserving a percentage their staff positions for
blind persons. Finally, it is clear that ANWAB has being a pioneer in the rehabilitation of visually
impaired persons in Nigeria and will continue to consolidate on its achievements and grow.
Recommendations
The reason behind the recommendations made within this report is to enable ANWAB Nigeria to
undertake strategic, well-focused interventions that will facilitate the promotion of human rights
and the social inclusion of disabled people in the country. A concerted effort has been made to
ensure that the recommendations are in alignment with the overall strategic direction of ANWAB
Nigeria.
It was very apparent to the consultants that the disability movement in Nigeria is much divided,
and does not speak with one voice. Within the country, there are two national umbrella disabled
people's organizations that each sees itself to be the legitimate representative voice of all disabled
people. If a rights-based approach to disability issues in Nigeria is going to proceed, it is
imperative that the disability movement, especially at the national level, achieves some degree of
unity, in order that it can effectively lobby government. (50)

List of Recommendations
This work makes seven key recommendations to enable ANWAB Nigeria to make a strategic,
focused impact on promoting the rights and social inclusion of BLIND people in Nigeria, and
that fall within the broader strategic priorities of the organization.
The recommendations are as follows:1. That ANWAB Nigeria facilitates a mediation and conflict resolution workshop between the
Joint National Association of Persons with Disabilities (JONAPWD) and the Association for
Comprehensive Empowerment of Nigerians with Disabilities (ASCEND).
54

2. That disabled peoples organizations in Nigeria receive training on the principles of the social
model of disability.
3. That ANWAB Nigeria funds 2 pilot statistical studies to gather robust and reliable data on the
number of disabled people in two of its key designated states. (51)
4. That ANWAB Nigeria should provide some seed funding to start a pilot inclusive education
program in one of its key designated states.(52)
5. That ANWAB Nigeria should draw upon the expertise of disabled people in Nigeria, on a
periodic basis, to assist them in developing their work with regard to disability issues, and how
they can be effectively mainstreamed into DFID's core activities.(53)
6. That ANWAB provides technical support to the umbrella body of DPOs to effectively lobby
the government and advocate for the passage of the Disability Bill into law.
7. That an explicit concerted effort is made by ANWAB Nigeria to ensure that disabled people
are included in all its programmes and activities. (54)

End notes
1. Alonge Paul, (student and friend of the blind), 28 years, faculty of social science, Unilag,
in discussion with the author, 28th October, 2014.
2. Olugbenga Adebayo, (friend of the organization), 40 years, in his office, in discussion
with the author, 26th October, 2014.
3. Ibid,
4. Interview granted by Mr. Benedict Ezenwa, (a friend of the blind, fashion designer), 40
years, in his office, 5th June, 2015.
5. ibid

55

BILBLIOGRAPHY
Primary sources/ oral
NAME
Adebayo, Olugbenga
Adegbola, Isaac.

AGE
40
43

OCCUPATION
Contractor
Computer

PLACE OF INTERVEW
his office
computer room, ABWAB

DATE
18th June
17th June,

Adewale, Kolawole.
Alonge, Paul

37
28

instructor
Office manager
Student

conference room, ANWAB

faculty of social science,

17th June
28th June

Director of

Unilag
His office

20th June,

Basharu, Danlami

56

ANWAB
56

40
44
33

Fashion designer
Embosser operator
Braille embosser

his office
conference room ANWAB,
conference room ANWAB

5th June
17 June
17th June

Ishola, Damilare.

37

operator
Ex-student, of

Braille Center, Unilag

20th June

Dr Onwunmere,

42

ANWAB
Optician

His office

20th May

Benedict, Ezenwa
Duru, Cadjeta.
Ikeji, Amaka

Benedict

DOCUMENTARY SOURCES
About us, www. Nigeriaasociationoftheblind.org, cited on 30th jUNE, 2015.
Danlami, Basharu. (Anwab newsletter, 10th,- 15th edition,) 2010-1014.
Danlami, Basharu. (ANWAB Profile).
Frances Hanon, attitude towards disabilities, National disability authourity, www.nda.ie, cited on
July 15th, 2015.
Voluntary Services Overseas, A Handbook on Main streaming Disability, Voluntary Services
Overseas, London., (2006).
www./leadership.ng/news/369519/senates-lifeline-people-living-disabilities, cited on 20th July,
2015.
www.sunnewsonline.com/news/making a case for the disabled people in Nigeria, cited on 16th of
July 2015.
Yeo, R. (2005),Disability, Poverty and the New Development Agenda
www.disabilitykar.net/docs/agenda.doc, cited on 16th of July, 2015.
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Elsevier. Developmental Disability; promoting decision making; self determination,

(journal), vol. 16, 1995.

T.O. Adelowo. (Journal) Nigerian Association of Special Education.
Tylor and Francis.(journal) Disability and society. Vol.1-17, (Current issue). (Carfax

Publishing, )
Yakubu Salihu Adako. Journal of the Nigerian association of special education.
Chigeonu, N.E, Art creativity and information lives in rehabilitation of the handicapped,

(pat-mas press ltd (Ibadan), Sped publication series), 1996.

Maryjane, Rees. Auditory Rehabilitation for Hearing impairment and Blind persons
(American speech and hearing Association, Danville, Illinois, America), 1963-66.

57

Dr. (Mrs.) T.A Bolarin, The History and Development of Western Education.( Olu-

Akin Publishers Ibadan

Hartley, Dean. Welfare Rights and Social policy. (Pretence Hall, USA, 2002).
William Farley, et al, introduction to social work, ed, (pearson international publication).

Zastrow, Charles. Introduction to social work and social welfare;Empowering people.

eds. 10th (Belmont, Usa, Brook/cole, Congage Learning, 2009). Chp. 16.

58