Amina Yusuf, a 25-year-old lady who resides in Idiaraba area of Lagos state, was born with visual impairment and had to depend on braille for her reading and learning.
Now, she is a teacher in a school for visually impaired individuals where she teaches the use of brails for the same purpose. Amina says she finds fulfilment in impacting the knowledge she acquires on others like her, thereby creating a legacy for herself.
According to the Nigerian Optometric Association, about 50 million people in the country have some form of visual disability, about 24 million have completely lost their vision with about 4.25 million of them aged 40 years and above.
There is also a deficit in trained personnel and inadequate teaching and learning materials for the blind and visually impaired in schools, but some of Amina’s students who are acquiring an education in braille count themselves privileged to now have a gateway to literacy and academic excellence.
Richard Idehen, a visually impaired person, stated that he also would be able to get a job as a braille tutor to help other visually impaired individuals learn and become self- reliant.
Education advocates say a lot needs to be done in order to bring braille to more people in Nigeria, especially the remote areas.
Amina, the industrious and passionate young lady, urges the federal government to increase the number of schools for the blind and also to find ways to sensitize older people to understand the importance of education for the blind especially in the northern part of Nigeria.
The Nigerian government insists that it is improving the quality of education and employment opportunities for the blind and visually impaired and also signed legislation designed to ensure equal rights for people with disability. There is also a bill going through the parliament aimed at improving literacy and access to reading and learning materials for the blind and visually impaired.
Despite these commendable feats by the government, there is yet a lot of work to be done to ensure that the proposed changes are implemented across the entire nation.
This article was written by Joy Eromosele, MSc Student of Mass Communication (2023/2024), University of Lagos, following the training on Disability Reporting facilitated by Blessing Oladunjoye, Publisher of BONews Service.