Mr. Ogan said court rooms were public buildings and their inaccessibility to disabled lawyers pose a threat to their livelihood. Joined as respondents in the suit are the Rivers State Government, Rivers State Governor, and Rivers State Deputy Governor. Others are the Speaker, Rivers State House of Assembly, Deputy Speaker, Rivers State House of Assembly, Chief Registrar, Rivers State Judiciary, Attorney-General, Rivers State, and Chief Judge, Rivers State. Mr. Ogan told our reporter that his grouse was that public buildings such as court rooms were constructed without consideration for the accessibility of persons with disabilities. “There are no functional lifts and a number of architectural barriers in the court premises such as the non-ergonomic design of staircases, amongst others, make access to courts a nightmare and livelihoods almost impossible,” said Mr. Ogan, who is the Coordinator of the Association of Lawyers with Disabilities In Nigeria, Rivers State Chapter. The hearing of the case is scheduled for July 25 at the Rivers State High Court. Mr. Ogan said the culpable negligence of the Government of Rivers State and her alter egos over the years in building a society on the assumption that persons with disabilities do not exist had resulted in “heightened ableism.” “Banks, markets, car parks, churches and even court premises (our supposed temples of justice) are inherently inaccessible,” he said. In his suit, the lawyer is seeking an order that the respondents, jointly and severally, pay him N70 million as general damages for loss of income and opportunities, and negligence to the plight of persons living with disabilities. He is also seeking an order of court for an additional N5 million as exemplary damages from the respondents. “An order directing the respondents to install, where necessary, functional lifts in all courts in the states and to ensure that the state courts have no architectural barriers to inhibit the applicant’s right of ingress and egress in these courts to earn his livelihood or do anything in pursuance of his social and economic development. “An order that the respondents place the applicant on an employment that is sedentary while they remove the architectural barriers complained of.” In addition to adopting the reliefs, Mr. Ogan prayed the court to, if the respondents are unable to offer him employment, award him N10 million to enable him establish a medium scale business as an alternative source of livelihood. Mr. Ogan said he would rely on the provisions of the Constitution and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (Ratification and Enforcement) Act to prove that his (and by extension all lawyers living with disabilities) fundamental rights to life and the derivative right to livelihood, freedom of movement and right to be treated with dignity, right to equal access to public properties and services, amongst others, had been infringed. He requested that lawyers with disabilities be given State employments as “these architectural barriers will take very long time to remove.”]]>