The World Health Organisation, WHO, defines disability as loss of function at the level of the whole person, which may include the inability to communicate or to perform mobility.
A mentally challenged person is someone who is mentally handicapped, and not able to learn or develop skills at the same rate as most other people because they have an issue with their brain. In other words, we can think of mentally challenged people as those who need special care or face learning difficulties.
The sexual abuse of mentally challenged teenagers in Nigeria keeps increasing at an alarming rate as no one wants to shoulder the responsibility of a mentally retarded person. Female teenagers in this category have a higher risk of experiencing domestic and sexual violence as they have little or no awareness of their environment. Guys nowadays, see them as “free pleasure partners” rather than human beings.
I read an article recently where a mentally challenged teenager was taken advantage of, impregnated, and abandoned but was later helped by a good Samaritan who voiced out her deplorable condition. Even parents and family of such a person usually find it hard to associate themselves to avoid the judging eyes of society.
The best way to stop this in society is to think of the victims as one’s close sisters or daughters who you won’t want a thing to harm in the world.
Effective infrastructure facilities and care should be provided with workers who are ready to commit and sign confidentiality not to hurt or abuse the girls. I believe they also deserve a place in society and to be treated as human beings also.
Adebesin Aminat
Student of Mass Communication,
Bayero University, Kano
