People with disabilities in the margins in Nigeria

ABSTRACT With the emergence of numerous human rights groups as well as legal instruments in the international arena, the rights and protection of people with disabilities are increasingly being guaranteed. However, in Nigeria, people with disabilities still live at the margins due to some cultural practices that continue to discriminate against them and undermine their rights and general wellbeing. The paper is an empirical study combined with some historical investigation of some of the extant literature to make a case that (a) there is connection between culture and the discrimination, neglect and abuse of person with disabilities; and, (b) that cultural practices undermine the rights and general wellbeing of persons living with disabilities in Nigeria.