Disability is not Inability

:: Plenary session for Voter alliance at the disability and electoral process seminar at school of monetary studies organised by UNDP. issues arising after David Wanjama's presentation.

• The practice of lamentation rather than giving of solutions should be stopped. Presentations should always include a way forward.

• Terms should be understood when being used e.g. umbrella organisations could be at various levels.

• Claims and allegations on corrupt practices should be backed up by clear true documentation which should be forwarded to all DPOs, in order to help the disability movement move forward.

• As DPOs lobbied for representation they should ensure informal groups and smaller DPOs were accommodated as well.

• PWDs should be the type of change agents that use a participatory approach with inclusive decision making.

• The definition of physical disability should not just include the state of being without use of arms of legs, as there are also others such as those with spinal injuries. Similarly, it was noted that persons with cerebral palsy may have disabilities such as blindness or epilepsy therefore it was difficult to classify them.

• The government has not done much for persons with cerebral palsy in terms of the physio, occupational and speech therapy they require.

• No disabilities, including learning disabilities which constitute approximately 58% of all disability in Kenya should be ignored.

• DPOs mandated to give voter education should have interesting methodologies such as puppetry, with clear and simple material when disseminating information, and reach out to both people in the grassroots and parents with children with disability DPOs.

• PWDs are spread countrywide yet very little is being done to address disability outside urban centres. Future workshops should be held in marginalized areas such as Mandera. DPOs should develop strategy to ensure information and interventions reach the whole country, and inclusion should be put into practice rather than being theorised. As an example, in the Mt. Elgon area, PWDs have scattered all over, yet the government is making no effort to trace them.

• The gender aspect must also be included when engaging in disability issues as women with disability are triply negatively affected.

• To help carry out the national survey on PWDs, interpreters had been interviewed 2 weeks previously and sign language support would be provided.

• The presentations did not demonstrate youth with disability’s engagement and the impact of disability programs on them.

• The non-inclusion of the deaf blind in the workshop was regrettable, as their interventions were different from those of the deaf or the blind.

• Voter education should be held continuously rather than being event driven and happening only around the elections period.

• Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) should be used to enhance participation of PWDs.

In response to issues raised by participants the facilitator thanked the group for raising the issue of the deaf blind persons, explaining the participants should also take the workshop as a forum for learning and the committees take the issue up for future interventions.

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