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Disability
is not Inability |
The difference between
intellectual and psychosocial disabilities.
Presentation by: Ms. Edah Maina – CEO, Kenya Society
for the Mental Handicapped (KSMH).
i) Persons with mental illness have NO limitations in either intellectual
and /or adaptive skills. Their challenged behaviours are as a
result of a variety of conditions of mental illness that are reversible
through treatment.
ii) The person with psychosocial disabilities are not cognizant
of their rights according to the Disability Act of 2003 and other
international conventions that Kenya is signatory to.
iii) In Kenya, persons with mental illness generally
fall under the Mental Health Act. Their condition is not currently
recognized as a disability. A lot of sensitization is needed to
enable them claim their disability rights.
iv) KSMH’s focus as a society is on the
Intellectual disabilities ONLY.
Importance of PWIDs participation in the electoral
process.
International estimates put disability at around 15% in all developing
countries in Africa i.e. about 4.5 million Kenyans live with one
or more disabilities.
At least 2/3s are people with intellectual disabilities
estimated to be 2.7 million. The exclusion of such a huge number
of Kenyan population in voting is denying them the rights to have
a say on governance.
Unlike other disabilities, persons with intellectual
disabilities can only participate in electoral process through
individual assistance of sensitized and trained human readers.
A human reader is a close associate of a person with limitations
in both intellectual functioning and adaptive skills, whose role
is to provide supported decision making and/or consent.
The human readers support have safeguards that
ensure that measures relating to the exercise of legal capacity
respect the rights, will and preferences of the person with intellectual
disabilities. Such support must be free of conflict of interest
and undue influence and is proportional and tailored to the person’s
degree of disability.
:: continued presentation page 3.
disabilitykenya
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