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Why Persons with Disabilities Should get Registered and How to do it

Rights of Persons with Disability Kenya | © Unsplash

Kenyan Disability Laws (Unsplash)

  • Registered persons can access help including business grants and assistive devices.
     
  • It also helps the government in designing solutions targeting Persons With Disabilities.
     
  • Persons With Disabilities  should visit the District Gender & Social Development Office to register.

People with Disabilities have been urged to register with the National Council of Persons with Disabilities (NCPWD) to ensure they access the various services provided  by the government which target them. Speaking exclusively to EnableMe Kenya, NCPWD Assistant Director of Public Communications Francis Andenya said the government agency is mandated to offer registered persons with disabilities services, benefits and grants to improve their living conditions.

Importance of Registration

Andenya said registering with the NCPWD allows people with disabilities to benefit from the aid the government sets aside to improve their living standards.

“Without being registered, it is impossible for a person with a disability to get the kind of assistance that they require,” he said.

Registration of people with disabilities also helps the government, through the NCPWD, to design appropriate programmes to meet the specific needs of People with Disabilities depending on the type of disabilities, their socio-economic needs, and poverty levels among other things.

It also helps the government in setting aside funding for the group.

 The council lists the benefits that registered persons can access through the National Development Fund for Persons with Disabilities, for example, acquiring assistive devices.

The Fund gives priority to individuals requiring assistance to function in a learning, training or work environment.

Examples of such devices include wheelchairs, crutches, hearing aids, callipers, surgical boots and prosthetic arms or legs. Assistive services on the other hand include sign language translation.

Programmes designed by NCPWD include economic empowerment through which the National Development Fund for Persons with Disabilities provides grants to community and self-help groups.

“These grants aim to help Persons with Disabilities gain self-sufficiency in generating income and to enable them to gain the skills and experience to access the loans required to grow their business,” NCPWD said in its website. 

It also includes the Albinism support programme that works by cushioning persons living with albinism from the effects of harmful sun rays, which leads to skin cancer. 

Products provided under the program include sunscreen lotions, protective clothing, and comprehensive eye care among others.

NCPWD also runs the cash transfer programme, which targets persons with severe disabilities. Under the programme, caregivers are given money to ensure they can  care full-time for a  person with disability.

More benefits
Andenya said it is also crucial for all parties that people with disabilities get registered. At the Council’s level for instance, registration makes it possible to know the state of persons with disabilities in the country, which may assist in planning special services for this population.

How to register

To register at an individual level, NCPWD urges qualified persons to present themselves to the District Gender & Social Development Officer.

The individual is required to have a colored passport sized photo, a copy of a medical report from the government gazette hospital as well as a duly filled individual registration form.

To get the medical report, one needs to appear to a medical team in any of the 160 gazetted government hospitals across the country that are mandated to conduct the disability medical assessment.

According to Andenya, the assessment reports are sent to the Director of Medical Services (DMS) in Nairobi for approval of registration.

“It is on the basis of the recommendations by the DMS that the National Council for Persons with Disabilities registers one as a person with disability,” the Assistant Director said.

For the registration of organizations that work with people with disabilities, interested parties must ensure they are listed by the NCPWD. The organization is required to present a copy of certification of registration from a recognized body, for instance the government or a Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs). A duly filled organization registration form is also a requirement.

Andenya said that the Council has established a fully-fledged department that is responsible for registration of all persons with disabilities.

He added that the department carries out the registration in partnership with other key partners including the Ministry of Health and Social Services department. 


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