Disability is not Inability

::Deaf Statistics in Kenya

It is important to note that hearing loss is the second most prevalent disability after physical disability. Of the majority of the more than three million disabled Kenyans. Hearing impairment is defined in various degrees ranging from profound deafness to partial hearing loss.

The population of people who are deaf in Kenya is about 400,000. This statistic has been derived through community mapping using various tools and vehicles including deaf schools, deaf community organizations, and deaf church congregations.

The 400,000 is built from community mapping showing that over half are supposed to be at various levels in the education system. Of these, there are an estimated 200,000 people who are deaf at school age. This includes those in school from primary to secondary, residential regular schools, and vocational training, as well as units within various local schools. Yet, the majority of deaf individuals at school age are not actually in school due to various reasons ranging from lack of parental awareness to inability to afford school fees.

The majority of the rest of people who are deaf are young, but under 40 years of age. These individuals are mainly found in slum areas and in rural communities. Most are past regular school going age and are of low educational ability . Most also have better sign language skills due to various interactions with community members. Very few of these deaf individuals are organized into the various budding community-based organizations for the deaf.

Various religious organizations organize facilities for the deaf to be able to have access to churches translated in sign language. The Catholic Church, Presbyterian Church of East Africa (PCEA), and Baptist Church are among the leading organizations working with the deaf according the last community maps of 2004. They have established units that provide sign language translated services to various deaf communities countrywide. These are integral vehicles to map the community outside the normal census.

The final mapping tool is the local administrative authorities. However, this is unreliable since they are not clearly defined in the minds of many Assistant Chiefs, Chiefs, and district Officers (Dos). Many church and community leaders also clump the disabled together. Household surveys are therefore quite unreliable.

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