Disability is not Inability

:: Influence change of attitudes

The disability community in Kenya maybe needs a media agenda. The media has a lot of influence in reinforcing attitudes that are acceptable to society. Large sections of the persons with disability ACT 2004 cannot be effective without a more knowledgeable media working together with the community.

Stigma still tops the list of issues that the media and socirty can help change. But inclusion in resource distribution is crucial if we also want to see more people with disabilities joining the middleclass. A major resource is media itself.

At lower level we need to educate parents who do not take their children with disabilities to school. TV programmes with such themes or highlighting of marriages for persons with disabilities and those without has improved significantly.

Many in society still think a person with disability has no future, cannot even marry so whay take him or her to school. A large section of the over a million children currently out of school have a disability or the other.

The government must be compelled to spend more to make social services disability friendly, but the media must do its part. The government does not have statutory obligations to provide disability-friendly services. This must change.

A disability agenda in the media...

This building of social integration of persons with disabilities improves awareness of their potential among parents, but also reduces the dependency culture so institutionalized in the community.

A disability agenda in the media would move past the Polio Campaigns that almost always uses clips of children with disabilities as a strategy to encourage people to take their children for polio vaccination. We should move to more positive images that build self esteem of persons with disabilities.

Attitude changes imply encouraging Kenyans towards a positive feeling about the disadvantaged community. There are many ways in which successful personalities with disability can role model others to put up and shape their act towards a brighter future.

media role in monitoring inclusive policy.

If the media declares successful, a free education or health programme that is not inclusive, we in the disability community find it hard to convince anybody otherwise. So we continue to miss education and wallow in illiteracy. Over 20% of young illiterate adults did not go to school due to a disability. Adult illiteracy figures are growing a recent report shows.

Another good example is the beautification of Nairobi city, the capital of Kenya.

Why is the City council slowly removing ramps built to help persons on wheelchairs access pavements or cross the road? So is the city beautiful when pavements have been fenced off and people are sharing main road with rogue matatu drivers?

disabilitykenya