Hearing-impaired people under the aegis of the Nigeria National Association of the Deaf yesterday called on the Federal Government to include them in the Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme (SURE-P).

The association lamented that the programme was targeted at empowering the less privileged in the society, yet they were excluded in the programme.

Some officers of the association spoke to Daily Trust yesterday in Ilorin, the Kwara state capital on the sideline of the weeklong programme marking the International Deaf Week celebration in the state.

Former National Public Relations Officer of the association, Mr. AbdulMumeen Sulaiman Ujah, a computer analyst, said lack of empowerment of the hearing-impaired causes most of them to take to begging.

Ujah, who spoke through an interpreter, said there were many skilled deaf people among them.

Also speaking, an elder of the association in the state, Engr. Abdulganiyu Olododo, called on the government to involve them in decision making, emphasising that issues that concern  deaf people are better handled by the deaf.

He also called on the state Assembly to pass into law the Disabled Bill before it to adequately cater for the welfare of the hearing-impaired people in the state.

Olododo berated the attitude of some parents who he accused of isolating their deaf children because of their condition, saying the parents should accept their condition.