I was shocked Nigerians applauded video mocking disabled children — UK-based advocacy founder, Folarin-Ogunde

I was shocked Nigerians applauded video mocking disabled children — UK-based advocacy founder, Folarin-Ogunde

How would you describe your advocacy?

I am the founder of Jesse’s Place Foundation, which is an organisation that works with parents and carers of children living with autism and learning disabilities. I’m also a senior education practitioner who was trained and has practised in the United Kingdom for over 25 years.

We operate in the UK and Nigeria. Part of what we do is the creation of respite programmes for children and young people. It makes the parents have some respite so we can take on the children and engage them in meaningful activities. So, that’s part of what we do.

Does your advocacy have training initiatives?

We run workshops for parents and carers on important topics relating to their children and young people. In Nigeria, I have worked with the Ogun State Government, and my foundation invited 10 professionals in various aspects to deal with the lives of young people living with autism and learning disabilities.

That programme was held in 2019. These invited professionals were speech and language therapists, occupational therapists, and social workers. So, we came to Nigeria for a one-week workshop in the state. A few years before that, I worked with the Lagos State Government and did the same thing.

I currently support a couple of schools, so my foundation is actually global, even though we do a lot of work in the United Kingdom. I am linked with our local authority in the United Kingdom as well, where we are asked to run a number of programmes for parents and carers within my local authority as well.

Why did you choose the UK for relocation?

My case is not typical of many Nigerians who have relocated to Nigeria. I wasn’t born in Nigeria. I was born in the United Kingdom, but I left the United Kingdom when I was three. My parents obviously moved us back to Nigeria. My sisters and I went back to Nigeria. I was 18 at the time I went back to Nigeria in 1985. But I’ve remained in the United Kingdom ever since, although I have strong links with Nigeria.

So, I’m always in Nigeria. My last trip to Nigeria was last year. This makes me carry out my advocacy because I know that when it comes to special needs in Nigeria, that’s an area where the government is not doing a lot. It’s an area where lots of parents and carers need a lot of support and encouragement.

Do you have any latest incident against what you defend?

Some weeks ago, I received a message on Instagram from Special Education Needs and Disability. When I first received it, I didn’t know who the person in the video was. All I could hear was, ‘Kiekie, you need to think twice about what you’ve done here. You have a large platform and influence. Why are you encouraging your child to laugh at disability?’ These are the words I saw in the message sent by that organisation.

Then, it dawned on me that it was the content creator and actress, Kiekie, asking her child to pretend that she was blind and deaf. She was now begging people to donate to the child. It was content, but it was a jest against children with autism and other disabilities. Unfortunately, many people commended her acts.

It was two or three people who didn’t see any sense in what she did. They criticised the video. A lady was telling her to apologise for what she did because it was absolutely making a jest of children living with disabilities. So, I got curious. I then went to look for that video.

Yes, I saw the video. I was shocked at what I saw. She has a lovely daughter, and she made her put her head backwards and close her eyes and act as if she were deaf and dumb. But what got me angry was when she said the child couldn’t see or hear, and that she needed millions of naira to be flown abroad for medical treatment.

That was very insensitive, using the plights and predicaments of certain people to catch a cruise, as they usually say. In that video, she was begging Nigerians to donate money for her to travel abroad by booking a first-class flight ticket. This was a mock content for children with disabilities and their parents.

Don’t you think it was just content not deliberately created to cause emotional harm to anyone, but out of naivety?

I would have thought so too, but the question she put in the video revealed that she knew why she was doing. She wrote, ‘The African mother in me prayed before I put this content out.’ This means she knew that people would be angry and curse you and your child for what you’ve done.

Maybe she thought, ‘I don’t want a child that’s blind or deaf.’ So, if the African woman or the African mother in you prayed before you put the content out, you must know that it would definitely have some negative implications or negative impact. To be honest, on my own personal Instagram, I do see what Kiekie does.

I regarded her as someone intelligent and eloquent, but that video did not speak well of her personality. It was so bad that many people were commending her daughter for being a good actress. Apparently, it was not the fault of the child, but the mother. There was a part she called the daughter. She didn’t want the daughter to respond, because apparently, she was meant to be deaf.

So, the daughter answered, and then she said, ‘What’s wrong with you? You are saying that you’re deaf and you’re answering.’ That was just insensitive. If you call yourself a celebrity, that is the weight of morals and responsibility that you carry, whether you like it or not. It is not something parents should applaud, and that is why Nigerians should do better.

What if she were just ignorant, and all you needed to do was reach out and let her see why the video was insensitive?

I’ve always said that though my organisation is for parents, carers, and professionals working with children and young people living with autism and learning disabilities, I also care for any other child, be it cerebral palsy or physically challenged, visually impaired, or others. We are all in the same community because we go through the same heartache.

So, when I saw the posted content, I was just shocked and totally disappointed. I understand that as people, we should be careful about our digital footprints. I also cautioned myself on how to react on social media, so I wrote in the comment section to tell her how I felt.

How did she take the reaction?

Then, I saw I could access her. Then I went back to the Instagram page for my foundation. Then another advocate said the same thing to correct her. I decided to contact that person about my plan. When I thought she had responded to my comment, I couldn’t find her.