Visually Impaired Yet Digitally Equipped



A lot of times people approach me with the sole purpose of giving me several reasons why I do not fit into the Nigeria system with the impact I make towards others. . "Why not go to the United States or Europe to do what you do, you will be more appreciated over there than in Nigeria. There is nothing happening in naija." In my heart, I laugh. I laugh because they are ignorant of the fact that if everyone keeps running to North America or Europe to create social impact or even add to their GDP as a worker while forgeting the land that gave you a meaning and existence with the help of God then it makes them less brave and even susceptible to ridicule. 



The truth is that I am so passionate and totally in love with what I do as a social development professional that raises the par for underrepresented groups such as persons living with special needs, women who have been deprived opportunity to lead in tech & business and children with no access to the education and vocational support that should make them compete in the job market locally and internationally. 



I am positive that as we celebrated our country's 59th Independence yesterday, many of us took the time to reflect on the immense possibilities we can bring as a nation. If we all had the good intention of building this nation with the little we have, We wont have to run away (or escape). Instead nations will run to us for a global economical opportunity. .



I am so glad I and my team fostered the ICT project for students of the Federal Nigeria Society for the Blind in Lagos state for two straight weeks.  



The empowerment program was conducted in two sessions and it saw that the visually-impaired persons were trained on Microsoft properties, Google products, and Internet Governance to promote policies on technology rights for the visually-impaired.



The young adults of the Federal Nigeria Society for the Blind,Oshodi in Lagos State were proffered 21st century digital technology skills which not only enhanced their digital literacy, but also provided empowerment tools to develop their social relationship skills among their peers which exposes them to employability opportunities now in the nearest future. 



Also, the Lagos State AIDS Control Agency staffs educated the blind young adults on the vulnerability of people living with blindness to HIV. They not only stressed that tackling HIV among people with disabilities needs a rights-based approach, which tackles barriers holistically so that wider issues such as gender-inequality and violence are addressed. They also keynoted that People with disabilities are often overlooked in HIV sexual and reproductive health and rights programming and face increased barriers to accessing services. 



Apparently, it's time to introduce them into the world of technology as an entrepreneur or as an employee in the world of tech. 



The truth is no one was born useless or incapacitated, we were born with the ability to inspire, empower and re-empower. That is why we are so proud that in a year from now, with the digital training proffered to these blind young adults, there will be more participation in technology and leadership roles so they can be integrated to technical internships and technology entrepreneurial works. Not to forget, promotion of policy making on Technology Rights to Inclusion (Visually-impaired) In Africa. 



Read Newspaper Article to gain more insight into this story.



Do you wish to part of 2020's project with the special needs community as a partner or with the sole aim of investing toward the human capital development of the special needs community, kindly inbox me. 



Together we can do exploits!



Vision Impaired,  Digitally Equipped!

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