The effective provision of special educational needs (SEN) services in Nigeria is critically undermined by a complex web of deep-rooted cultural and religious beliefs that pathologize disability and foster widespread stigmatization.The study aims to investigate the impact of cultural belief on special educational needs provision in Nigeria.The findings revealed a hierarchy of cultural barriers to special educational needs (SEN) provision in Nigeria, with supernatural attributions of disability (75%) and stigma-induced shame (67.5%) representing the most pervasive challenges. The findings from this study reveal that community attitudes towards children with special educational needs in Nigeria remain predominantly negative, characterized by strong agreement with harmful spiritual explanations of disability and disagreement with inclusion practices.The study demonstrates that cultural beliefs represent the most significant barrier to special educational needs (SEN) provision in Nigeria. Deeply entrenched supernatural attributions of disability, coupled with pervasive stigma and fear of social shame, create a complex web of resistance that undermines policy implementation and perpetuates the exclusion of children with disabilities from educational opportunities.
Ola-Williams et al. (Fri,) studied this question.