Joyce N. Eseni, Convener of MedicoLegal Awareness and 2nd Vice Chair of the Medicine & Law Committee of the Nigerian Bar Association Section on Legal Practice, has commended the organisers of the 2026 Annual General Conference of the Nigerian Bar Association for the measures taken to improve accessibility for delegates with disabilities, while urging the association to do more to ensure the full participation of lawyers and other delegates with visual impairment.
Eseni, who described herself as a lawyer passionate about medicolegal awareness and the rights of persons with disabilities, said her attention to accessibility is naturally heightened whenever she attends public gatherings.
She particularly praised the conference organisers for providing sign-language interpreters throughout the sessions for delegates who are deaf or hard of hearing.
According to her, interpreters were present during the sessions and Annual General Meetings of the NBA sections she attended, taking turns to ensure that delegates with hearing impairment could follow and participate in the proceedings.
She also commended the organisers for making the conference venues accessible to delegates who use wheelchairs and crutches.
“These are important steps towards ensuring that professional gatherings are accessible to everyone, regardless of disability,” Eseni said.
However, she identified the participation of delegates with visual impairment as an area requiring greater attention at future NBA conferences, particularly the absence of Braille and other tactile materials.
She said accessibility should not stop at physical entry into a venue or the provision of sign-language interpretation, but should extend to the ability of visually impaired delegates to navigate facilities independently and participate fully in conference activities.
“Full participation of delegates with visual impairment without Braille materials remains a concern,” she said, urging the NBA to make tactile and Braille accessibility part of the planning framework for future conferences.
She noted that although the 2026 conference adopted a largely paperless format, the reduction in printed materials did not eliminate the need for accessible alternatives.
For visually impaired delegates, she said, independent navigation of large and unfamiliar public venues can depend heavily on features such as Braille and tactile signage, tactile paving, textured mats and other architectural markers that help users identify spaces and navigate them safely.
Eseni also called for greater use of accessible technology to complement physical accessibility.
Such technology, she noted, can facilitate interaction and reduce barriers to participation by accommodating the different ways in which persons with disabilities access information and engage with public events.
Her appeal comes at a time when questions of disability rights and inclusion are increasingly being framed not simply as matters of welfare, but as questions of equality, dignity and access to professional and public life.
For the legal profession in particular, she argued, accessibility carries an added significance.
The NBA is not only a professional association but also an institution whose members routinely represent vulnerable people and litigate questions involving fundamental rights. Ensuring that lawyers with disabilities can participate fully in the association’s own activities is therefore part of the profession’s commitment to equality before the law.
Eseni’s intervention does not diminish the progress made at the 2026 conference. Rather, it seeks to build on it.
The provision of sign-language interpreters and improved physical access for wheelchair and crutch users, she said, demonstrates what can be achieved when accessibility is considered at the planning stage. The next step should be to ensure that the same principle extends consistently to delegates with visual impairment and other disability-related needs.
As delegates return home from the 2026 NBA Annual General Conference, Eseni expressed the hope that the event would leave behind not only professional lessons and renewed relationships, but also a stronger commitment to inclusion.
She urged the association to carry the gains made at the conference into future events and institutional policies, with accessibility treated as a standard requirement rather than an accommodation made after the planning process has already begun.
“As delegates safely journey home from the 2026 NBA Conference, may they carry forward the spirit of excellence, collaboration and a renewed commitment to advancing medicolegal awareness,” she said.
