Empowerment Citizenry Against Poverty has trained people living with disabilities in Nyamira County on their rights as enshrined in the Constitution of Kenya.
The overriding theme was transforming the education system and mindsets to accommodate people living with disabilities as there are deeply rooted stigmas in communities.
In collaboration with Glad You Smiled and Urau Trust led by Dauglas Onkeo, the Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) noted that people living with disabilities are in most cases forgotten and are not involved in major decision-making processes like changing the education curriculum.
Patriciah Omanga from Smile Kenya took the meeting through many areas where the persons with disability have been abandoned and called for a complete change, giving the example of the disregard of this group when selecting student leaders.
“How can a person living with disability acknowledge and identify with their history if it is not taught in their schools? How can we boast that we cherish social, economic and political equality when we do not have disability-friendly schools? How do we say that we are true Christians when some parents hide their disabled children from the public because of personal pride?” she posed, calling for an overhaul of cultural consciousness on how the society treats and interacts with persons living with disability.
She lauded the Ministry of Education (MoE) for the integrated system of education, but lamented that it has not sunk deep among communities because of poor funding.
The training on Thursday was to help them know their role in the county budget-making process, among other things that directly affect their lives.
Alfred Ocharo, who facilitated the talk on what it takes to educate people living with disability to realize their potential, said there is need to empower them for a balanced national development.
“We need to disrupt stigma and build a collective understanding in the promotion of our brothers and sisters living with disability in this country,” he said, suggesting that one of the best ways communities can empower their persons living with disability is to teach them to learn to embrace their own identity.
He asked education curriculum developers to fine-tune the Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC) towards total inclusivity and draw a clear pathway on the concerns of the intellectually and physically disabled if this group of people has to be salvaged.
He cautioned teachers against defining pupils by their disability because calling them names leads to unreadable stigmatization.
The participants thanked the sponsors of the meeting and asked them to continue sensitizing and enlightening them for a better living, adding that learning is a continuous process.
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