Disability is not Inability

:: How the media portrayal perpetuates discrimination.

The week of the budget, the media carried out a story about a boy called John Kibichi. Nation TV nicknamed him "Magic John". The limbless boy uses his mouth to hold a pen. who can do anything anyway. The story was so popular that Nation TV repeated it twice and Sunday Standard followed it up on sunday. The portrayal is what betrayed the whole coverage. This especially in a week in which we celebrated the Day of the African child.

Disability frieghtens people the world over. Yet in the world of today where a suicide bomb or an accident is only as far as the person you are seeing next to you. Weather in the bus, jam, shopping mall, or bank, the possiblities of living with disability deafness, limbless or blindness are far too real. Ask President-Elect Mwai Kibaki, one evening of 2002.


Yet Disability in the African media is portrayed more as impairment imagery than disability imagery (the media runs to cover impairment than the disabling shortcomings of society). We define Disability as how much the social construction is inaccessible considering your physical, mental and sensory status. To what extent is the Kenyan education system or hospital inaccessible to John Kibichi.

Impairment imagery common in our media, becomes therefore a selling point for pity and sympathy and promote charity to a people unable to achieve independent living. In many cases including until very recently in the West, the medical view of disability is prefered by the media mainly because as much as disability frightens people.

This has however reinforced two perceptions. That disability is a medical challenge people with disabilities has to be overcomed by the individual or should be fixed by medicine, an implant or some sort of gadget. The Sunday Standrad reported Moi Referal Teaching Hospital's diagnosis and willingness to medically sort out John Kibichi, should funds be available.

This reiforces the community dependency through charity even in cases where the government provides free services. While Kibet is in an elite school, the media showed shamelessly Kibichi's parents seeking support to take educate the child, train the teachers special skills, and get a better wheelchair so he can write with his mouth while seated. How will the disability community be able to achieve independent life? These two are strong perception in Kenya supported by society. No wonder the strong resistance by government and media to the impelemntation of the persons with disability ACT (view the social responsibility of society to adjust to accomodate people with disabilities) in Kenya.


superhuman hero...

Superhuman overcome of disability is cherished by media worldwide. It is useful in proof to the world what persons with disabilities can do. Usually under the banner, "disability is not inability" it assumes that people with disabilities therefore can still make it within their condition because there is evidence. It takes the view that the problem with many PWDs is they are lazy beggers who don't want to overcome the system like anybody else. If this guy can do it, why not you.

This view puts the onus of overcoming on the individual with an impairment. The system has no adjustments to make. The individual must build superhuman skills to make do. If you cannot cope then survival for the fittest. Yet the system is built to favour those without disabilities. The school does not need teachers with sign language skills, Oral method is adequate. Just repeat and repeat or talk loudly and the deaf child will finally hear and get the concepts.

The patient does not know anything about his/her body just ask the gaurdian where the pain is and give priscriptions.

The result has been the growth in medical solutions to fix impairments which have never succeeded. So we are left at the mercy of proffessionals continously using our bodies as guinie pigs for experiments which never provide solutions. The media and Kenya is awash with medical solution providers, whose experiments have failed many a times but who because they speak the same language with what the sytem knows has gained much ground.

Are you deaf get a cochlear implant, or how much is an hearing aid we can buy for you that. Are you limbless get artificial limbs.

while we accept that in certain circumstances these do work. In most they dont. A perfect example is Vivichi the famous limbless Australian who was in Kenya recently. He was prescribed with artcicial limbs and got immobilised due to their weight. So he made the decision never to use them and alas!

But the alas is a function of the environmental adjustments available in Australia as much as his determination to live. While he taught himself how to swim he needed the adjusted housinf, showers, computer, brushes and more importantly people to manage what he has. So does Kibichi to become Planning minister in 2030.

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