Embrace person's with disabilities.....

By Reuben Wanyama

It saddens me to see a number of disabled person who are holders of Degrees Masters and PHDs certificates still moving from pillar to post in search of employment. It angers me when I see persons with disability being locked up in rooms because people are ashamed of them and see them as outcasts. It makes me cry when I see persons with disability being victims of rape and there is no justice for them. It breaks my heart completely when I see the discrimination persons living with disability go through here in Kenya. Sometimes I ask myself where our humanity is. Aren’t they human beings? Don’t they breathe the same air we do breathe?

It’s a shame that even after the provision by constitution, persons with disability are still not treated with dignity and respect, they still don’t have reasonable access to all places, public transport and information, they cannot access educational institutions and facilities for persons with disabilities and finally they cannot access materials and devices to overcome constraints arising from the person’s disability.

Most people with disability don’t know their rights.  They lack awareness and knowledge of their rights and don’t know where to go if they feel their rights is being violated.  Poor education opportunities, limited accessible information, lack of control over their own lives, limited support, limited means of communication for them to communicate to others has contributed to lack of knowledge about their rights.

Just because one is disabled it doesn’t make him or her to be less human. We have to understand that it not disability that defines a person and when we judge them based on their disability then we miss out their abilities, beauty and uniqueness. Their ability is stronger than their disability and we need to give persons with disability a chance since every person deserves a chance to reach his or her full potential. Let’s change our bad attitude towards persons with disability and be kind to them because kindness is a language the deaf can hear and the blind can see.