Lack of social, economic inclusion leaves persons with disability in poverty

THE majority of the 1.2 million people with disabilities in the country live in poverty because of lack of social and economic inclusion, the National Board for Disabled Persons says.
“Everything boils down to poverty because they can’t go back to school, they can’t access proper education, currently there is a policy on inclusive education which is overdue by over 20 years, there is no proper policy,” chairman Ben Theodore says.
“Inclusive education for children, people talk about it but for us there is a lot of gaps, children with disabilities who are going to school are faced with challenges especially with materials and the capacity of teachers.”
Other challenges are in health.
“Our women with disabilities, under the convention on the rights of persons with disabilities, the social components, they have the right to have relationships so then hospital staff sometimes discriminate them,” Theodore said.
“People still have a negative attitude, they still underestimate the level of production a person with disabilities can make if he is given the opportunity to participate equally in development.
“On top of it, there is no legislation on disabilities in this country. We have a policy, we are yet to legislate the policy.”
Theodore said the board’s mandate was to coordinate community-based rehabilitation (CBR) programmes. The CBR components include health, education and social services, livelihood and empowerment.
“There is a lot of activity under these five components, inclusive education, inclusive social services like sports, also inclusive participation of persons with disabilities in livelihood activities like SMEs.”