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Disability and Education

Children with disabilities have been denied the vital right to education

Children sitting on their desks in class  | © Unsplash - Doug Linstedt

Inclusive Education (Unsplash - Doug Linstedt)

It's the right of every child in Kenya to get education. Unfortunately, from statistics from our dailies this isn't the case on the ground as children with disabilities have been denied this vital right. 

There are many reasons for this injustice levied to them for instance: poverty, culture, poor infrastructure and religion. 

To start my illustration, I will pinpoint various types of disabilities:

1.  Child with intellectual disability 

2. Physically impaired  

3. Visually impaired 

4. Hearing impaired 

I must admit that the level of effect as result of these challenges to our children differs from one to another. 

(i) The type of disability- for instance, in classroom a physically impaired  student / pupil will likely understand faster what the teacher is teaching than a student/pupil with intellectual disability

(ii)The extent of disability- for example, a student with mild ear damage may not be disadvantaged like a student with severe ear damage in a normal classroom setting. 

May I explain how disability has affected children in acquiring education. First and foremost, we must accept that a student with any kind of disability cannot be at the same level in class as far as activities in acquiring education are concerned with a student without disability. To illustrate this, I will use a hearing-impaired student. Assuming a teacher is in class dictating notes to students as he/she explains. There is no doubt, this kind of student shall be disadvantaged to a large extent. Because of his/her condition, he/she will certainly miss some points, and this therefore definitely will affect his/her education negatively. 

Secondly, as a result of disability, student's self-esteem has adversely been affected. A good percentage of people with disability suffers stress and depression occasioned by their fellow students. Some of their classmates/schoolmates have this habit of laughing at them instead of comforting them. Worst of it all, they mock them and sometimes nickname them using funny names which are irritating. These behaviour(s) therefore prompt students with disability to view themselves as valueless. Because of this, they therefore loss morale in education. Then the end result is, performing dismally in class. 

Thirdly, other if not all kind(s) of disability require a lot of funds, simply put, in short, every kind of disability involves use of money. To drive my point home, for instance, a person with hearing impairment  requires special instrument to aid in hearing. Similarly, a visually impaired  student requires a special instrument called braille to aid in reading. A physically impaired  student needs a wheelchair just to mention but a few. All these items require money, and some of them are expensive. Most parents with children with disability cannot afford to acquire these items for their children. So, when these items cannot be availed, these children will definitely not be able to perform well in school thus have a negative effect on their education. Regrettably, some children don't attend classes or even don't go to school because they lack these items. 

Lastly but not least, other parents with children with disability lock these kind of children in the house. They are kept indoors most of the time. Some parents don't want people to know that they have children with disabilities because of the notion that people will laugh at them and fears of stereotypes. This therefore makes it difficult to be helped even with well wishers. In the long run, children with disabilities in this kind of family are forced not to acquire education or they are made to acquire education with limitation. 

 What the Government and  non-governmental institutions can do to ensure that people with disability acquire education without limitations just like people living without disability. 

(a) Government can build special schools and subsidize  school fees to make it affordable or scrap school fees so as to accommodate all persons with disability. 

(b) Government to formulate policy that are friendly to people  with disability such as lowering university entry points to students with disability, give them first priority in things like bursary and job opportunities. 

(c) Government should ensure that schools have got resources/infrastructure that caters for needs of people with disability. For example, when the school has storey buildings, schools should have a way in place in which students can access the classes upstairs without difficulties. 

(d) Government to severely punish those parents who deny their children their constitutional rights to education by locking them at home. 

(e) Government to provide necessary items required by people with disability in acquisition of education. 

(f) Government through its Ministry of Education and other stakeholders should come up with a curriculum that caters for persons with disability. Also, Ministry of Education through its tutors should create a conducive comfortable environment for persons with disability in schools. They should ensure no students with disability is bullied, abused or tortured by others. 

(g) More important, the Government should empower people with disability so as for them to be self reliant after school. 

People with disability have encountered a lot of challenges in pursuit of education. Some of them are:

(a) Lack of items necessary in acquisition of education, some are mentioned above. 

(b) Mental torture; some of their schoolmates or classmates mock them in reference to their disability, and some torture them physically. 

(c) some schools have no facilities that are user-friendly to persons with disability. 

(d) Some cases teachers don't consider them as people with disability,  they teach without paying attention to persons with disabilities  thus they end up disadvantaged. 

(e) While in school, people with disabilities  who require assistance, for example being moved from one place to another may not get someone to help them move from one place to another, just to mention but a few. 

 Disability is not inability.  This saying has been made come to realization. A lot of people with disability have succeeded both in education and in life in general and are living a successful life. 

Edwin Opetu 


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