- 1.3 billion people, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), experience significant disability today, representing 16% of the global population.
- The infrastructural setting in most learning institutions is not disability friendly.
- The International Day of Persons with Disabilities (IDPD) is a United Nations (UN) day that is celebrated every year on December 3.
After months of visiting a physiotherapist at Kendu Adventist Hospital, Josephine learned that her nine-year-old son, Brian, won’t walk again.
A then shaken and hopeless mother of three remembers with sadness that fateful evening when a Good Samaritan called to inform her about a boda boda accident.
Brian was on his way home from school when a middle-aged boda boda rider hit him along Kadel-Kendu Bay Road. The Good Samaritan had rushed him to a health facility as the rider escaped into thin air.
How it began
“That evening of February 2022, as I prepared to board a vehicle to Kendu Bay from Homa Bay, my phone rang, and it was a strange call. When I answered, my heart skipped, as I could hear a child crying in pain from the background.
Pain struck my body, and I was restless when the caller informed me Brian was at Intensive Care Unit (ICU) in Kendu Adventist Hospital, following an accident on his way home,” Josephine narrates.
When she reached the hospital, fear grabbed her as Brian turned in pain, bleeding profusely. Broken legs, a bruised face, and a dislocated arm were her son’s sources of pain, anguish, and disenfranchisement.
She could not tell what it all meant until after two weeks when one of the doctors informed her that Brian’s condition was serious.
Painful reality
“After months, a physiotherapist called me for a word. I was a bit nervous since I kept praying for my son to walk again.
When I finally entered his office, he told me Brian wouldn’t walk again and must now be provided with a wheelchair.
His words were that brief, and I concluded that the battle was lost. That is how my child joined Nyaburi Integrated School, in Rachuonyo North Sub-County, Homa Bay County,” she confesses.
It has taken Josephine time to welcome the reality of being the mother of a disabled child. She still believes the boda boda rider would have spared her son the current pain and condition.
However, she thanks the Good Samaritan for rushing her son to the hospital for first aid and specialized medical attention.
When she took Brian to Nyaburi Integrated School for admission early this year, the truth dawned that he would start all over again, with new friends, teachers and classmates.
She felt for her son as she walked through the school gate. With a wheelchair, she felt defeated in life.
Nyaburi Integrated School, located in Rachuonyo North Sub-County, has continued to offer specialized education to persons with disabilities for decades, and their contribution in giving hope cannot be underestimated.
Double responsibility
Josephine is not alone.
Many parents have become victims of this sad reality of children who end up with a disability in the course of their lives due to avoidable and unavoidable predicaments.
To many parents, the new condition comes with huge responsibility and physical participation. Disability comes in different forms and shapes, making it a very difficult condition that can’t be managed through a singular approach.
As many parents confirmed to Scholar Media Africa, the disabled children need to be guided on literally everything.
Brian joins the list of 1.3 billion people who, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), experience significant disability today, representing 16% of the global population.
A report by WHO states that persons with disabilities are at risk of developing serious health conditions.
Pain and uncertainties
Most parents who expressed their frustration to Scholar Media, condemned the government’s neglect of Persons With Disabilities (PWDs), explaining that engagement has been casual.
“The health inequalities are a stark reminder that persons with disabilities are usually left behind, and that achieving good health and wellbeing for all as is in Sustainable Development Goal (SDG3), requires the meaningful participation and empowerment of persons with disabilities,” says a mother in Kendu Bay Town.
Quoting Kofi Annan, Mildred Omino, Disability Liaison Officer at the University of Nairobi, says education is the greatest equalizer of all time. It gives hope to the hopeless, creating chances for those without.
She goes on to say education greatly impacts the lives of persons with disabilities.
More pain and uncertainties
“The conditions of most learning institutions are not friendly to persons with disabilities.
This relates to physical, social, and digital environments. It is regrettable that amenities complementing education are not disability-friendly,” Ms. Omino says.
She decries public transport that is not wheelchair accessible, and most learners who use wheelchairs do not have them to make it easy to access educational institutions.
She adds that the infrastructural setting in most learning institutions is not disability friendly.
Ms. Omino adds that the digital divide affects persons with disabilities disproportionately.
“The cost of assistive learning technologies is skyrocketing thus unaffordable to many persons with disabilities,” she claims.
She calls out the government to allocate sufficient finances for modification of the infrastructural environment to make it accessible to learners with mobility impairment.
She also challenged the government to provide subsidies to lower the cost of assistive learning technologies.
Ms. Omino also called on the government to initiate continuous disability awareness to eliminate social barriers to education.
But speaking in West Pokot County during this year’s International Day of Persons With Disabilities, Florence Bore, CS Labor and Social Services, reiterated the government’s commitment to realizing the review of Persons With Disabilities Act 2003 to have it conform with the current constitution and the present realities.
“I support the onboarding of the Disability registration service on e-citizen as a key milestone in the nation, enabling ease of service delivery, which makes it possible for Persons with Disabilities to self-register and receive their disability registration certificates from the comfort of their mobile devices,” she says.
The government used the event to issue mobility devices to persons with disabilities through the council’s partnership with Hope Mobility Kenya.
Even today, affected families continue to lament the poor conditions of learning centers set aside for their children.
They claim the conditions are pathetic, demeaning and inhabitable. The absence or neglect of crucial services tells of an existing gap that needs to be filled.
Neglected and abused
“The condition of integrated schools in the country is horrible. Elevators may be lacking, doors too heavy to open, bathrooms inaccessible, and transportation modalities poor.
Who should fix all these?” Charges a mother of a blind child.
A Special Needs Education (SNE) teacher who talked to Scholar Media and anonymity, revealed that integrated Schools in Kenya, were not well equipped with learning/teaching and physical resources to deliver an inclusive education.
She says most schools have fewer SNE teachers, even when circumstances demand otherwise.
“The government must address the community’s perception of PWDs by offering humane treatment. Community misconceptions remain associated with people with disabilities, leading to isolation, neglect, and discrimination.
It is imperative for the government to improve the infrastructure of integrated schools, and promote their general welfare,” the teacher says.
What the law says
Article 54 (1) (e) of the Kenyan Constitution entitles persons with disabilities to the accessibility of assistive devices to become as independent as possible.
Despite the law providing for the provision of assistive devices, families have gone through turmoil, sourcing for crutches, hearing aids, and wheelchairs.
The Act compels the government to offer infrastructural and equipment support to institutions supporting persons with disabilities, educational assistance, provision of assistive devices and services, and offering incentives to potential employers of Persons with disabilities.
According to the 2019 Kenya National Housing and Population Census, Kenya has an estimated 900, 000 persons with disabilities, translating to 2.2% of the country’s population.
Harun Hassan, CEO of the National Council for Persons with Disabilities (NCPWD), a state corporation established through the Persons With Disabilities Act No. 14 of 2003, identified the resilience, strength, and unwavering contributions of People with Disabilities (PWD) in Kenya’s journey towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
“Despite facing various challenges, persons with disabilities have demonstrated remarkable determination and innovation in pursuing their aspirations and contributing to their communities.
They are a driving force behind inclusive and equitable development,” says Hassan.
The International Day of Persons with Disabilities (IDPD) is a United Nations (UN) day that is celebrated every year on December 3.
The UN set aside the day to promote the rights and wellbeing of persons with disabilities in all aspects of political, social, economic, and cultural life.
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World Health Organization (WHO) joins the UN in observing this day each year, promoting the importance of securing the rights of people with disabilities to enable them to participate fully, effectively, and equally without barriers in all aspects of their lives.
An amazing piece of work. It’s enlightening.
As a society, we need to come out and add our voice on the predicament of the people living with disabilities in our communities.
Indeed children with disability suffer a lot. The government should come up with structure of supporting them. Like buying diapers for the whole life.
Exactly Dorah. It is time the government came up with ways of supporting people living with disabilities