Dr Stella Iwuagwu, was hale and hearty when she returned to Nigeria in 2007, to work on her PhD desertion. Sadly, she went back to the United States on a wheelchair.
The mother of two, who was pursuing her PhD degree in the United States was involved in an accident that confined her to a wheelchair for almost 17 years.
Iwuagwu said she was travelling to Kano from Abuja, when the accident occurred. Their vehicle suddenly went out of control and skidded off the road in Zaria. Following the accident, she sustained a spinal cord injury that has left her permanently on a wheelchair.
A PhD holder in Health Education, Iwuagwu is also a nurse/midwife and the Executive Director at the Centre to the Right for Health. She has not allowed her present condition to cloud her ambition to excel in her chosen career.
Iwuagwu was among the distinguished personalities honoured at the maiden edition of Imo International Film festival, for her immense contribution to the development of humanity.
Apart from being a public health specialist, Iwuagwu is also a farmer and a teacher. She has strong passion for filmmaking, following her belief in using film for behavioural change and for educating the public about critical health and development situations.
She has been using films and documentaries to advocate the right to life of persons with disabilities.
Recently, she premiered her latest movie, “Breaking the Silence,” in Owerri. The movie, she said, documented the experiences of gender-based violence among women with disabilities.
She also produced another documentary titled “Failed by Angels” which, she said, chronicled the challenges faced by people living with disabilities in terms of accessing healthcare in Nigeria. In addition, she produced a community play titled, “Imeogwa”, where she looked at unintended pregnancy among teenagers. She was also part of the production of a religious movie on AIDS among others.
After the completion of her PhD programme, Iwuagwu taught at the School of Health Sciences, Cleveland State University, Cleveland Ohio, for six years before returning to Nigeria to establish the Centre to the Right for Health. She has devoted her life to pursuing her goal of being a voice of the voiceless, advocating a better life and inclusion for people living with disabilities.
Sharing her story, the Imo State-born public health specialist, said, “I came home in September 2007, to work on my desertion. It was in the course of that visit that I got involved in an accident, where I sustained a spinal cord injury that left me in this condition. For the past 17 years, my life has been confined to the wheelchair. The accident happened while I was working on my PhD, and still running my NGO back home”.
Having accepted life on her wheelchair, Dr Iwuagwu encourages other people saying, “where there’s a wheel, there’s a way!”
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