Stories

I'm Ibemere Zion chichetam. I was born in Amaraku Isiala mbano IMO State Eastern Nigeria.I was applying for admission into the University around the time I had a traffic accident eleven years ago. I sustained a spinal cord injury at C1- C5 complete. I was taken to several different hospitals which were the Federal Medical Center in Owerri, the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital and National Orthopedic Hospital both in Enugu. My family spent all that they had. The doctors did the best that they could. They said that I should go for surgery abroad, but my family didn't have…

Two years after my injury, my family and I were forced to relocate to a small village. My parents had spent all they had on my many hospital admissions in the hopes of me getting my health back.In the village, I was mostly bedridden. I was told to remain still on the floor for my spine to heal. My family and I were afraid that if I didn’t, my back would never not heal. After much time passed by, I finally realized that I had to snap out of it. I learned how to transfer. I began to help myself…

My spinal cord injury was a mystery to my family. Mostly my relatives, who did not understand what a spinal cord injury was, despite the influence of my father, who did know. They convinced us to believe that lying naked on the cement floor would correct my broken spine. After two days on the floor, a “native” doctor was invited by my relatives and parents to treat my spine. There is a belief here in my community that a native doctor can fix a broken bone better than a medical doctor. In case you don’t know, the so-called native doctor was…

Most people who are living with spinal cord injury in Nigeria are unable to participate in the economy and have mostly dropped out of society.People with SCI in Nigeria are not likely to advance in school. This happens because of the lack of infrastructure in schools which is wheelchair accessible. As a result, few people with SCI in Nigeria have a university education or degree. The lack of accessible transportation system is another factor which hinders them from going to school.In the rare situation where someone with SCI can manage to get to the school, he or she will find…

Societal stigma is the disapproval of, or the discrimination against an individual based on there social characteristics that serves to distinguish them from the other member of the society, societal stigma are mostly related to culture, race and gender etc. People with spinal cord injury in Nigeria can attest to societal stigma at every point of their lives. Factors that are mostly responsible to these in Nigeria are mostly culture and gender related. In my first year as a person living with spinal cord injury, for six months I was afraid to go out or associate with anyone. After this…