Victor Oricha stands at the front of a small training hall in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital, his fingers moving fluidly as he signs to the class. Behind him, a large screen displays lines of colorful code. He points to a specific line and signs, “This line controls the color of your header.”

At the back of the room, 27-year-old Umamatu Jiddah, one of eight students, raises her hand. She dreams of becoming an app developer, but right now, her code isn’t working. She signs her concern, and Oricha walks over, scans her screen, and taps a few buttons. Within moments, her display updates. Jiddah’s face brightens as she signs, “I missed that.”

Oricha nods in acknowledgment and returns to the front. “Coding is a language, just like sign language,” he signs again. “Once you understand the logic, you can build anything.”

This isn’t a typical classroom. The students are part of Deaf-in-Tech, a program designed to break barriers for Nigeria’s Deaf community in the country’s booming tech industry. Over the past decade, tech has emerged as one of Nigeria’s fastest-growing sectors, contributing at least 20 percent to the country’s GDP in the second quarter of 2024, and drawing in at least $2 billion in foreign investments. Yet, despite this growth, tech job opportunities for people with disabilities remain scarce.

Deaf-in-Tech aims to change that by providing a platform that empowers deaf individuals with the skills and resources needed to break into Nigeria’s tech industry through specialized training programs, mentorship initiatives and strategic partnerships. Unlike conventional coding boot camps, where spoken explanations dominate, here, lessons are delivered through sign language.

“All you need is their attention,” Oricha explains. “Once that is secured, you can be sure they will give you their best.”

The fight for inclusion

For Nigeria’s estimated 35 million people with disabilities, everyday life is filled with obstacles. Schools and workplaces often lack the most basic accessibility features, forcing many children with disabilities to stay home — only 4.5 percent have access to formal education. And in a country grappling with high youth unemployment, people with disabilities are often pushed even further down the ladder.

“The problem of unemployment for persons with disabilities can be traced to government inaction,” says Iquo Mkpang, a disability rights advocate at the Advocacy for Women with Disabilities Initiative.

Mkpang points out that while Nigeria has laws meant to protect and promote the rights of those with disabilities, enforcement remains weak. The Discrimination Against Persons with Disabilities (Prohibition) Act, signed into law in 2018, mandates accessibility in public spaces, equal employment opportunities and penalties for discrimination. Yet, years later, many public and private organizations continue to exclude people with disabilities from the workforce.

“Government agencies are supposed to reserve at least five percent of jobs for persons with disabilities, but how many actually do?” Mkpang asks. “Even when highly qualified individuals with disabilities apply for jobs, they are either ignored or treated as beggars.”

This perception that people with disabilities need handouts instead of opportunities is a barrier to inclusivity, says Dr. Arowolo Ayoola, founder of Deaf-in-Tech.

“As Africans, we have a tendency to offer alms, especially to those with disabilities,” Ayoola says. “But this has led to a society that sees them as charity cases rather than professionals with skills.”

Ayoola’s drive to challenge these stereotypes comes from personal experience. In university, he had a brilliant, determined deaf student as a roommate. After graduation, while Ayoola moved on to a promising career, his friend struggled.

“He would apply for jobs, and instead of being judged on his qualifications, people would just offer him alms,” Ayoola recalls. “I knew things had to change.”

With years of experience leading Data Lead Africa, a tech company that provides data analytics and strategic consulting services, Ayoola saw an opportunity to open doors for more deaf individuals. “Tech is a great equalizer,” he says. “It doesn’t care whether you are deaf or hearing, black or white. A line of code is a line of code anywhere.”

Determined to make a difference, he started Deaf-in-Tech in 2022 with just a handful of students, teaching them Power BI, Microsoft Excel and programming languages. To make learning truly accessible, the program provides laptops, transportation support, career coaching and mentorship, ensuring that students don’t just gain skills but also have the resources and confidence to build successful careers.

Since its inception, Deaf-in-Tech has trained over 1,000 individuals, supported 10 deaf tech founders, mentored more than 250 people, and helped 20 organizations develop disability-inclusive policies.

According to Deaf-in-Tech’s chief operating officer, Ojone Akor, at least 32 graduates are now employed in technical roles across various organizations, while more than 25 have secured internships.

The organization has also developed an e-learning platform called DeafLearn, which provides inclusive educational resources for individuals and offers interactive courses, visual learning aids and sign language-supported content, especially for those unable to attend physical classes. 

“Life-changing”

When Albert Amos Audu graduated from college, he was unsure of what to do next. Finding a job in Nigeria was already difficult, but for a deaf person like him, the odds were even steeper.

One evening, while scrolling through Facebook, he came across an ad inviting deaf individuals to apply for a tech training program. He clicked the link, and “that turned out to be a life-changing decision,” he says. 

He was accepted into the program and spent months learning data analytics, coding and visualization tools like Power BI. But beyond technical skills, Deaf-in-Tech also taught him how to build a professional portfolio, network online and position himself for job opportunities.

Not long after completing his training, his efforts paid off. Audu secured a job as a data analyst at Connected Development, a civil society organization focused on transparency and good governance.

“This program didn’t just teach me tech skills; it showed me how to be seen,” he says. “For the first time, I felt like I had control over my career.”

Communication is the code

For many deaf individuals, the biggest challenge in education and employment isn’t intelligence or ability but communication. Traditional classrooms and workplaces rely heavily on spoken language, leaving deaf students and professionals struggling to keep up, says Victor Oricha. “But once that barrier is removed, they can learn just as quickly as anyone else.”

Oricha, who is deaf himself, understands this struggle firsthand. Before teaching the students coding, he often has to start with the very basics. “For most of the students who come here, I don’t begin with programming,” he explains. “I start with teaching them about computers and how to turn them on, and even how to use a keyboard properly.”

His teaching approach is deeply visual, using real-time demonstrations, step-by-step explanations and repetition to ensure understanding. “For people like us, sight is everything,” he says. “If we see it clearly, we understand it. That’s how I teach.”

Jiddah, who once doubted whether she could keep up in a tech training program, now spends hours experimenting with lines of codes, eager to push her skills further. “I used to think tech was out of reach for people like me,” she signs, “Now, I see it’s just about having the right environment to learn.”