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More than 81 million Africans are living with a disability, according to the WHO – including 15 per cent of school children.

800 African athletes with disabilities will be taking part in the Paralympics in Rio in September. But many people living with disabilities in Africa still struggle against stigma and discrimination, which can limit opportunities and restrict their participation in education, work and society.

Despite new laws to protect the rights of people with disabilities, in Sierra Leone and elsewhere, attitudes appear slower to change.

In this edition of the Â鶹ԼÅÄ Africa Debate – recorded in Freetown, Sierra Leone – the Â鶹ԼÅÄ’s Hassan Arouni and Asad Ahmad are joined on the panel by Paralympian table tennis hopeful George Wyndham; Kabba Franklyn Bangura of the Sierra Leone Union on Disability Issues; Lamin Saa Kortequee, executive secretary of Sierra Leone’s National Commission for Persons with Disability; and Dr Florence Baingana, the Mental Health and Psychological Support lead for the World Health Programme in Sierra Leone.