Disability is not Inability

Media should avoid perpetuating cultural and religious perception on disability

This means that advertising inclusion should also be encouraged with all body forms represented. Language should include non voice languages like sign language.
The media should avoid propagating cultural and religious perceptions that perpetuates discrimination against disability.

Kenyans still look at disability through the eyes of cultural and religious practices that see disability as either a curse in the family or something God need to urgently deal with in a fierce prayer. While I believe in the power of faith and healing, the mere fact that the sovereign God has not healed all people with disabilities means a lot. It is the individual faith of each person to be or not to be healed. Those media advertisements of power preachers selling their wears that the deaf will hear and the blind will see are but selling adverts that are to say the least discriminatory.

The lives of all us who are yet to ‘get the faith to be healed’ should not stop simply because we live with a disability. Religious media need to respect this. Mainstream media need to respect individual rights.

The media, therefore has power to influence parents to take their children with disabilities to school if parents would see more reason that even with disability you will succeed. It has power to encourage companies to employ persons with disabilities, by showing people with disabilities in their area of work as normal with equal challenges as any other. It has power to influence inclusion in politics by highlighting those with disabilities in various political activities among others, championing or lobbing for resources. It has power to reduce discrimination in health faculties by showing no difference in the way geographic constituencies get and use their resources and how much goes to disability-friendly adjustments.

In Kenya for example, the leading daily newspapers have continually written stories on person with hearing impairment using words like "deaf and dumb" without rising eyebrows. Actually the Disability ACT in Kenya is silent on the role the media plays in perpetuating social discrimination of the persons with disabilities.