‘Disability has made me a strong activist’

Weekly Trust: How was growing up with disability like; what were the challenges you faced?
Zainab Mustapha: It hasn’t been easy. The symptoms of polio started manifesting in me when I was 10 years old. It wasn’t easy because I was actively walking with both legs at the initial state and my parents didn’t even know it was polio. My mother still stresses that she had done all the immunizations to the extent that as an adult, she showed me some pieces of the evidence.
WT: As an adult, did you ask her why you had polio?
Mustapha: Yes I did. When I was in secondary school, I had some challenges, because even when you accept your predicament as an act of God, there are times people will push you to the wall. All I was hearing at that time was that ‘your parents did not do this right or your parents didn’t love you enough’ and from all indications I knew that my parents showed me enough love and concern; so, I was kind of confused and started asking questions. There were times I faced stigmatization even from peer groups, but with my parents’ and other people’s support, I was able to overcome…I take it as it is and I know God has given me other potentials. I appreciated my seniors while in secondary school, because that was the first place I faced the most challenge. My parents always used to tell me that as long as I was educated, no one would see me as disabled and that was what I tried to do. I have never been idle all my life. I always made sure I was doing one programme or the other even when I finished secondary school, before I got admission, I gathered the children around my area to take them on lessons free.
WT: How did you handle the discrimination you faced?
 Mustapha: As educated as I am, I never knew that I would face the kind of challenges I faced. I once had a fiancé whom I met when I was in secondary school.  Years later, he looked for me and wanted to marry me. Everything was going well with us, his mom, sisters later onhis father, said no to our engagement. I later found out that his father didn’t approve of me due to my physical disability, so I broke it off. Though he urged me to be patient and promised that he could convince his father, I just felt I didn’t need any more stress. Here was I, physically challenged, that was enough for me and I didn’t want to face issues with in-laws, so I let him go. His father said he didn’t want him to marry a liability… I cried at that time, but then I vowed that it must stop. Prior to that I didn’t see myself as disabled, I felt the Hausa term gurguwawas used for those people on the streets who beg; but I didn’t know people saw me as gurguwa, because I felt that I could do anything an abled person does.
WT: What inspired you to establish an NGO for people with disability?
Mustapha: After that incident I started reflecting and when I started advocating, people were telling me that I wasn’t disabled but I said no, I am physically disabled but in my heart I am able. That was when I started advocating for people with disabilityand I wanted the discrimination to stop.
I felt people with disability needed to be supported. The discrimination I faced before I got married also played a vital role, so I established an organization, Inter-Faith Women with Disability, around 2010. Prior to that, I had been working with other organizations. Then when I felt that my own people were being neglected I established the Inter-Faith Women with Disability to gap the discrimination.Our mission is to gap the discrimination between the able and disabled;for the able to learn to work and see the potentials in the disabled, because most of the time the able people have a perception that people with disability are a liability. But God has created us to be the same. If you look at a deaf person you will notice that he may lack the ability to hear but you will also notice that his brain is more active.
WT: What role do you think disabled women can play in our society?
Mustapha: We have many disabled women who have a lot of potentials. When I went for Africa Youth Leadership training in Abuja with participants from various African countries, I was the only disabled person and when the time came for us to elect our leaders they were surprised based on the activities I was doing. So, to show them that there is ability in disability, I contested for the president of the group and out of the four contestants we decided to see if among the women we could get a consensus candidate. What happened was that I won by one vote, but later stepped down for another candidate. So, women can do whatever they put their mind to, but we need the support of the communities we live in.
WT: How does your husband feel about your work?
Mustapha: Actually, the first time I met my husband was during an election. I was working for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and he was the presiding officer. He is able but the way he was working was not to my satisfaction, so I collected his job and did it. He is also a civil society worker, so he sees my potentials and supports me in everything I do.
WT: What are some of the challenges that people with disability face?
Mustapha: The challenges for the disabled are enormous, especially the girl-child. You find out that in most cases the girl is from a poor home, so she faces discrimination based on her social status and her physical nature. She ends up becoming uneducated, no man wants to marry her and then we have some men who based on superstitious beliefs, think that when they have sexual relations with a disabled, they will become rich and such girls end up being abused. But if really these people want to be rich for life, why can’t they marry the girls so as to be rich for the rest of their lives? So, there is still so much to be done and we will not relent by God’s grace.
WT: What advice do you have for young girls with disability?
Mustapha: They should not pity themselves and never see begging as an option. They should go to school and get educated or acquire some skills. When I was going to Mecca, I cried because I thought with my disability I couldn’t do some of the strenuous acts of worship. Some people told me not to do the jifanshatan (stoning of the devil), but someone came and told me I could do it and reminded me that we were all equal in the eyes of Allah; so I tried and I did it. After that, I moved to Mecca and that very day I finished my hajj; some were saying I was too stubborn, because they had advised me not to do it. But while they saw me as trouble, all I wanted to do was prove that I could do it. If you make an effort, God will always support you.People living with disability are not lazy; they only need society to embrace them.
WT: What are some of the things you have achieved for the disabled in Plateau State?
Mustapha: There are many. We didn’t have anything like a commission for people living with disability, but now we have one based on our advocacy. In the past, we used to have only oneadviser to the governor on our matters,now we have about six. We pushed for a bill on people living with disability in the state House of Assembly which is now an Act. We have done a lot of advocacy that people living with disability should be included in everything. We were part of those who pushed for six people to represent us at the National Conference.  In the past, people with disability were neglected when it came to sharing basic food items during festive periods, but we thank God that we are now included. There is still much to be done but we will get there.