Skip to main content

Disability Inclusion Awards: Best Overall Individual

Hi people, my apologies first for taking too to put this up.
The above mentioned awards were organised by Action for Children with Disabilities which is a society that brings together organisations that cater for the needs of children and persons with disabilities on 28th March at the Boma Hotel.
The awards ceremony was a culmination of a two days stakeholders conference on mainstreaming disability and employment of persons with disabilities in Kenya.
The conference was a great platform for us youths with disabilities to be informed of the legislation that is in place concerning disabilities in Kenya and job opportunities available.   Among the speakers were Prof. Wanyama, a lawyer conversant with international laws, Jane Wamuyu the job placement officer at the National Council for Persons with Disabilities, Engineer Wycliffe Kepha Anyanzwa who is a transport consultant in mobility and disability which in simple terms means that he modifies vehicles for people with disabilities, madam Hital from Cisco (have adapted their curriculum to suit people with hearing and visual impairments) among many others.
During these two days I finally got to meet Mugambi Paul a.k.a Mpofu namba, Maria Omare from The Action Foundation which runs a centre for children withddisabilities within the Kibera slums, Saitoti Njenga, who is also quite vocal about issues affecting persons with disabilities in Kenya.
At the end of the conference,  the youth in attendance came up with a declaration of things that they would want to happen in regards to including people with disabilities in employment. I got to present this declaration after it had been compiled to the ACD group and they vowed to see to it that the declaration got to the relevant persons. As we were preparing it I was quite awed by the ease with which Stanley Mutuma, a visually impaired advocate with the High Court, typed away as  I dictated to him.
The awards ceremony started later in the evening which started off with a panel discussion which had Jean Claude, the chairperson of ACD, Eng. Kepha, the amazing Wanja Maina and myself. After this were entertained by one and only Denno of the hit song Mbona.
This was followed by the awards presentation which was presided over by the team from Abled Differently a show in KBC the features people with disabilities in Kenya.
In the individual category Wanja Maina and myself were nominated though the Muscular dystrophy family carried day. In the corporate categories KTN got an award for including pe with hearing impairment in their news briefings and I have to say that their staff and buildings are the most friendly to people with disabilities I've seen so far (I stand to be corrected) and Joe Ageyo was there to receive the award. Gertrude's children hospital was also among those who got recognised.
Special thanks go to my family  who never once complained as I thrust them into the public eye with matters that not many people are ready to talk about, my friends who have been there all along wondering silently what the matter is but never once shunned me, Christine of Stepping Stones(an online platform for mothers with special children)  and last but not least the Muscular Dystrophy Family out here who have slowly been coming out to be counted.
We the muscular dystrophy family in Kenya vow to spread the MD word the much we can

From left; Nancy of Dyslexia organisation,Jean Claude chairperson ACD, myself, Christine Mutena of Stepping Stones, George of Tuleane.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Tell the African Story

Monday Blues That Monday had been the most difficult day I had had and I have had so far, I had been stuck all day trying to sort out a personal issue and I was dealing with the most difficult and demeaning people I’ve had the pleasure of meeting in my life, my phone’s battery was drained so I had switched off the data option around midday. When I got home, by habit I plugged in the phone, waited for it to come on and turned on the data as I went to get rid of the layer of dirt and sweat. I was so tired and not really in the mood to eat, but I knew for a fact I wouldn’t survive the night seeing that a single banana is all I had eaten for lunch. Missed calls, text messages, Twitter notifications, new emails, updated applications, WhatsApp messages, my notification panel was overflowing! For some reason that day, emails got priority and there it was “Congratulations! You were chosen in the 2015 Mandela Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders” To say I got confused is a
13 comments
Read more

Disability acceptance and inclusion lessons from my Cûcû

In loving memory, ûromama kwega kuuraga  It is going to be 3years this 20th of August since you left us and I’m only just now being able to put this down. To write you into the world. To go back to writing on here. We shared so many unspoken truths that made me feel so so safe around you I have vague memories of carrying one litre water containers when my 6year old agemates were carrying ten litre and five litre ones  The small bundles of napier grass, handfuls probably when they carried bundles that weighed them down You made sure I had a bundle to carry or a container of water  You made it feel okay for me to come early in the morning to get my mandatory 5litres of water for washing the classrooms instead of having to carry them the estimated 5kilometres walk to school at 7/8years I’m the age before mobile phones, I would be tired at the end of my school day and walk to your home less than 10minutes away instead of the slightly more than 30minutes brisk wal
1 comment
Read more
Social media alone cannot be enough to create awareness, hence we need mainstream media. General advocacy alone may not make the challenges of living with a progressive muscle degenerative condition well understood so once in a while we resort to self advocacy ( putting yourself on a pedestal) so that the lives and experiences of other people can be easier than yours. Questions are welcome :-)
Post a Comment
Read more