People dey wey dey wake up everyday with two wahala wey they go need prepare for.
The first wahala nah against the condition wey dey face them: the mind wey dey think things differently, the tiredness wey no dey ever comot, the tough pain, the fact say they no fit move go anywhere without wheelchair.
The second wahala nah against the society itself. Against the world wey nobody think about them when they dey set am. Against the world wey dey judge them before e even know about them. Against the workplace wey no rate them before e even hear wetin they get to talk. Against the family members wey believe say their condition dey limit them pass as e actually be.
For the millions of people wey dey neurodivergent, wey dey live with one serious sickness, and wey get one disability or the other, separation (marginalisation) no be something wey dey only happen sometimes, and the most painful part be say, no be even strangers dey do am pass. Sometimes, nah as family members and people wey like them dey try help them, they go limit them in the process.
Most of the parents of the people wey dey neurodivergent and people wey dey live with disabilities no go wan allow their children play ball or play with other children because e fit dey rough. They go wan help them with everything. But low-key, the pikin no go like am. E go reach one point, the pikin go dey feel like say the parents hold one big cardboard wey them write “You no fit do anything on your own” for e front every time.
No be even only the parents dey do am, sometimes, the doctors dey run am too. We dey see neurodivergence as something to manage, cure or correct. Although, no be say medicine and technology neva help us improve plenty of lives but these mindsets fit make people feel like say they no get power to decide about their own life. Instead make we dey see those people as complete human being wey get their own strength, weakness, things wey they like and their own Independence, we go dey see them as their condition.
We no suppose see neurodivergence and disabilities as just disease wey we need cure, but also as normal way to show say one human being dey different from another human being. Some of the most creative, innovative and mad thinking wey we don see dey come from these people wey society no see as “normal.”
Inclusion now, suppose mean to empower these people, no be to dey overprotect them. Na to sabi say support suppose help people to fit decide for their self, no be to dey depend on others for everything. Inclusion nah when we stop to just dey see them as people wey need to depend on us every time and we start to dey turn the society to where them fit do well on their own.
The goal no suppose be to force everybody to become that thing wey we see as “normal”, but to create environment wey dey flexible where everybody go fit do well. Because these neurodivergent people and people wey get disabilities nah first people wey we suppose understand, respect, include and empower.
Maybe, the best thing wey we fit do nah to stop to dey see these things as disease inside only people and to dey try to face the society wey no dey gree give the people space to breath.
Keywords
Neurodivergence
You know say some people dey wey sabi run well well, some dey we sabi draw, some like to dey read. E mean say people different. Brain fit different too.
Neurodivergence means say some people dey learn things, feel things, play or understand things differently.
Some of them no like loud noise, some like to dey move around plenty times, some like to dey follow pattern when they dey do their things, some dey very good at some kind things.
Marginalisation
Marginalisation nah when you make person feel like say e no dey una level or like say e no dey important.
Imagine say children dey pay ball now, and one of them tell another child say e no fit join them because e no be like them or because e no dey waka like them. That child no go happy. Nah that kind thing they dey call marginalisation.
By Augustine Okeyade