By Kola Alhassan
For Micheal Adebisi Adebola, disability has inspired him to break barriers. After graduating with a degree in Industrial Chemistry from Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) in 2014, the inability to secure a job didn’t deter him.
He established a football viewing centre in Osun State where he has been slowly, but steadily hitting his stride.
” I graduated in 2014. I searched for a job for so many years without success. As a sports fan, I decided to establish a viewing centre to eke out a living,” he told IkejaBird in an interview.
He is not going to rest on his oars, the Industrial Chemistry graduate has lofty dreams. He wants to secure a job, live a life of comfort and flourish, and assist other physically challenged people.
He is not only industrious, but humane.
“I pray I get a job with my certificate and live a comfortable life to assist others in this condition like me,” he said.
But for now, he is committed to the viewing centre.
On the challenges faced, he said: “It’s been tough because I always have my father by my side who helped me to transport the TV and other things. I lost him not long ago, but my siblings have been helping with it now. I don’t have a standby generator. The shop I use does not have maximum security, hence, I take all my personal effects back home daily.”
Adebola advises youths to place premium on hard work and not rely on government for gainful employment.
His words: ” I’m physically challenged and I’m able to put things like this together, so educated youths with no disability should be able to reason and put things together and not rely fully on the government. If government later offers a job, that’ll be like an added benefit.”
He deplores how society abandons the less privileged and disabled.
” Discrimination against physically challenged people is terrible.Many of us have so many good ideas, even more than some able-bodied people, but we’re not considered. Some are subjected to discrimination, such that they get depressed and later commit suicide,” he noted.
Adebola, however, spreads his petition on the altar of the society, calling for a stop in discrimination.
His words: “Our society should show us love. We are human beings, too. People should stop discriminating against us.”
