He is a friend to the less-privileged. He is not ashamed to identify with them in the open. Reverend Jonathan Adegoke Adejunmobi, a Mass Communication lecturer at The Polytechnic, Ibadan, Oyo State, has been at the forefront championing the cause of these otherwise neglected members of the society for a long time now.
Recently, he had another opportunity to draw the attention of Nigerians to the plight of the physically-challenged and he did not miss the opportunity of taking a swipe at some Nigerians who discriminate against them in the society.
But contrary to the generally held belief that disabled people cannot achieve anything good with their life, Adejunmobi differs.
He said: “Disability is not inability, but an unusual spice of life introduced by divine architecture for people to glorify God, the Creator. When the unusual, uncanny and incredible achievements of intellectuals who, though disabled, are spotlighted and showcased for people to savour and appreciate, then you would want to give a loud applause to these very special breed of people for their landmark accomplishments.”
While complaining about a perennial conspiracy against people with disability by their able counterparts, he said this inhibits the performance of the disable. “The conspiracy is so thick and deep, particularly in a closed system like Nigeria. It is a wonder and an amazement that people with disability still find the courage and the resilience to surmount this treacherous obstacle deliberately set in their way by their able counterpart to make them falter and fail.”
The lecturer likened the discrimination against the people with disability to what the blacks suffered in South Africa during the apartheid era.
“But in spite of all these odds facing them, intellectuals with disabilities still rely on the grace of God and the power the Lord has endowed them with to aspire and actually shine in their various fields of endeavour over and above their able counterparts who dissipate their energy constantly setting traps for people with disability.”
He called on Nigerian to give recognise and support the physically-challenged, especially the intellectuals among them, who he said has to be three times as good as his able counterpart to succeed.
He urged the physically-challenged to remain optimistic about life and to take a leaf from the life of great men who suffered various forms of disability. “Isaac Newton, who discovered gravity and successfully propounded the law of gravity is disabled. He has a disability identified as stutter epilepsy.
“Leonardo Davinci, the famous artist and inventor, who among many other things, invented the bicycle, was disabled. It was a disabled Pythagoras who became famous for his Pythagoras theory for working out the length of sides of on a right angled triangle.
“Franklin D. Roosevelt, former President of the United States of American, ruled the greatest nation on earth in a wheel chair. He suffered from paraplegia caused by Polio. Louis XVIII, one-time king of France, suffered from paraplegic disorder caused by Gout.
“Bob Dole, former US Senator, had a withered arm, the result of casualty as a combatant in world war II. Thomas Gore, US Senator from Oklahoma, was blind from childhood.”
He also listed a number of Nigerian achievers with various forms of disability.
“We have Nigerians like Evangelist Olu Kayode; Mrs. Foluke Idowu; Prince Paul Adelabu; Barrister Damlami Basharu; Barrister Ayodele Adekanmbi; Mr. Tajudeen Alade of FRCN; Mrs. Nike Omeke of FCE Sped, Oyo, who is a Chief Lecturer and Head of Department; Professor Bitrus Gumna, a Nigerian disabled, who is making Nigerians proud in the American intellectual circles and Mrs. Grace Adejunmobi, the pioneer Director, Department of Special Education, Secretariat Ibadan.
“All these go to prove that the disabled endowed by God with intellectual capability must be supported by the society so that they can contribute their own quota and make the society look better than they met it.
“My fear is that if the society continues to frustrate them, the disabled with intellectual capability will continue to flourish, much to the chagrin and disgrace of a society that should otherwise have encouraged them.”
