Disability is not Inability

:: Hawking is a major source of income:

However, hope is not dead among the urban poor. There remain dedicated people who have determined not to be passive participants in this fate, but to find new and creative means of facing the challenges of life for the vast majority of Kenyans.

This is the story of one brave group of workers who have refused to accept injustice any longer, and who are now fighting for their rights.

Hawking is major source of informal employment among many poor Nairobites, and especially for people with disabilities. Disabled worked suffer serious discrimination in the mainstream job market due to government corruption, nepotism, and inaction on protecting the rights of the physically handicapped. Hawking is an economic sector largely pioneers by the disabled of Nairobi, and for the majority it is the only means they have of supporting themselves and their families – despite that fact that many are trained in other fields including teaching and veterinary sciences.

The disabled hawkers have scraped by on low, unstable incomes for years, selling goods such as pens, notebooks, handkerchiefs, fruits, and biscuits to passers – by. A hawker peddling these wares can make as little as Kenya sh. 250 per day (approximately Canadian $4.00), hardly enough to support a family with an average of four children.