Disability is not Inability

:: Disabled women in disability organisation

Is the Partcipation of Disabled women in disability organisations improving. Are there more women in leadership positions in disability organisations? One of the main streets to empowerment is the opportunity to be in a position in which your individual skills are used to the benefit of the larger good. Leadership position in many Disabled people organisations are the first platform through which they gain the necesary exposure to miximis their potential. for along time the dominion of men has been suffocating, to say the least.

However increasingly more womne with disabilities are proving their might even among men. More women organisations are coming up and faced with various challenges are making an impact in their own right. UDPK has been led by a women PWD for some time, the women wing of Kenya National Association of the Deaf (KNAD) has been led by Judith Mahindu to achieve some good exposre. Recently Salome Kimata established one of the current;y leading DPOs organisations United Disabled Empowerement of Kenya (UDEK). Josephine Kalunda has been in the forefron of the rebirth of the Dandora Deaf Self Help Group. More women with disabilities are making it in leadership positions. Josephine is also a leading figure and one of the founding members of the Kenya National Deaf Women Peace Network (KNDWPN)


There are more women with disabilities taking leadership position in umbrella organisations like UDPK, where the chief executive Mercy Onsando has been in the helm for over three years.

The importance of these decision making position in making the essential decisions about who goes to what seminar and which workshop will build which capacity women not only partcipate in but also attend these seminars. This creates the capacity men have dominated for years.

The role of ICT in management is also effectively acquired within theses exchanges. ICT is increasingly a necessary skill that no manager of even the community based loacl organisation can afford to lack. It is in these seminars that such skills are acquired. many would learn the best practices of other organisations and gain the necessary basic to implement at their local level.

Organsations environments also need to give women with disabilities more opportnities to learn the skills reqiured for not only leadership but also management. Many an orgnisation working with persons with disabilities provide more opportunities to men that toi women. It is essential that this changes. Strategic organisations in various fields including the government should employ more women in more challenging positions. A good example where women with disabilities have increasingly been given opportunities in a strategic organistaion is Liverpool Deaf Programme.

The programme by experience has increasingly employed more women in its VCT counsellors and peer educators. This has seen more women like Josephine Shisia, Susan Mugambi, Nancy, Miriam and Ruth take greater responsibilities in this highly proffessional carrer and proof themselves. They have learnt the skills required in the office management, computer skills, people management, conference or event organisation etc apart from skills in counselling and peer education.

Pelitah kwamboka at the disabilitykenya too has horned her skills working with and learning within an organistaion that uses alot of volunteer without disabilities. Webdesign using sofware like dreamweaver, or drawing using software like photoshop are skills may women with disabilities cannot easily attain within a classroom environment.

Donor networking, proposal writing and Accounting and report writing skills, are more aquired through networking in seminars and workshops. I would best use the example of Josephine Kalunda (deaf) whose growth in various skills has been tremendous over the last fewt years. To the extent that these days she is able to sit in her computer in her office and write her own proposals!!

To build leadership skills required to partcipate in national issues effectively women with disabilities need to horn their skills at whatever position the find themselves. The above examples are also proof that with determination and the advocasy more women would get opportunities to improve their productivity within not only DPOs abut also in National umbrella organisations like Maendeleo ya Wanawake or make it into the National parliament.

The only Nominated Member of Parliament for years representing the disability community has been a lawyer, woman and with visual disabilities called Josephine Sinyo. Who says we cannot have more and who says men are better.

As we work towards the Deaf women AIDs conference in South Africa, let more organisations give women with disabilities opportunity not only to attend but also to lead. let us see it as a step to in the long road to an inclusive societyand the greater good ofthe community living with disabilities.



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Category: Gender

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