#28 – Inequality, exclusion, and accessibility

Sometimes, I get super confident about my writing skills. I read some of my work and swell with pride at how well I write. At that moment, my voice of self-doubt masquerading as a voice of reasoning rears its ugly head.

“Don’t be proud. Why are you bragging about being able to write? Others should praise you, not you doing the job yourself”, it says.

Now, I am responding that, “Why should I not be proud of a skill that I have honed through years of practice? Scaling writer’s block, bad writing, and YOU – Mr/Ms Self-doubt, I am on my way to becoming a master of my art. Therefore, allow me… No, I don’t need permission… Therefore, I will shower myself with praises whenever I want”.

I also like to write like a Nigerian. We have some interesting expressions that can’t be captured by any other variety of English. You don’t get? Anyway sha, read on.

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It’s about time I wrote about the concept that has given my career and academic path a clear direction; accessibility.

While thinking one day like this (Nigerian expression alert), I realised that I have always been conscious of accessibility, or, more broadly, closing the gap of inequalities. I had several books around the age of 10 to 14 where I mused, in narration and songs, about what I wanted to be when I grew up. One word I loved was, “philanthropist”. I just HAD to use it after hearing it and discovering its meaning. Here, from memory, is one of the things I wrote:

I wanna be a philanthropist, so like right now

Help so many people in the world

I wanna be on the cover of Ovation Magazine

– Lami Williams, 2010

… I can’t recall the rest. I’ll make sure to pick up my books the next time I go home (my dad’s place) and post juicy pictures of my writings here. Some context/additional information:

• The lyrics are to the tune of “Billionaire” by Bruno Mars ?
• Ovation magazine was a popular magazine in Nigeria in the 2000s/early 2010s. I remember switching Forbes for Ovation because I did not think being on Forbes was achievable.
• 12-year-old me wanted to gain fame for being a philanthropist. The girl can dream, let’s not judge.

What I had in mind was to help people who were homeless, and orphaned (I knew them as “motherless babies”). As I write, the memories jeer me. How in the world did a young child think up all of this? Anyway, those were my deepest concerns and my reason for wanting to build the Orange City. My thought was that it was unfair for some people to easily have something while others suffered. The Orange City would be a safe haven for people who did not have homes. That way, they would not have to live under the bridge anymore. Children without parents would also have a place they belonged.

12 years later, my thoughts have not changed. I still ponder about inequalities. Of course, I know more things now. I know that inequalities are a systemic part of human society. The rich grow richer, and the poor continually dwell in abject poverty. Oppression is the order of the day. You’re overlooked if you are not “all that”.

People who are disabled live substandard life in many parts of the world. Let’s come to my country, Nigeria. How many people in wheelchairs have you seen boarding buses on the street? Have you ever seen a blind person at ICM? It’s not like they don’t exist, our world is just not built to accommodate them. So, they isolate and go to the few places where systematically accepted. Inequality also exists in this community. While some can afford state-of-the-art assistive devices, others can only afford hope.

Students who are “a bit slow to learn” are verbally and physically abused in school, not given the opportunity to figure out what is wrong and the chance to be better. The brilliant ones are celebrated and the “dull” ones are neglected without consideration that they may need medical attention. Someone has 20 houses in Lagos alone, yet an entire family lives on the roadside.

It is easier for some to get out of tough situations than others. A select few don’t even get into tough situations at all. The top concern of person A is how to find his next meal after 2 days. For Person B, it’s which meal out 7 choices he should have for brunch.

As said in Nigerian pidgin, “this life no balance at al o”. No, you shouldn’t blame yourself that you have more than others. It’s the system (created by us) that should be questioned. No, don’t feel bad for having. Rather, question how you can get the same opportunities and privileges you have to other people who desperately need them.

Our disregard for equality has caused us to exclude vital members of our community. They go hand in hand; inequality, exclusion, and inaccessibility. My articles for this week will be about these. I would like to hear from you if you have any thoughts to share.

These are 500 words (or more ?)! Talk to you tomorrow!