It is estimated that 10% of the world population live with disability. This figure clearly gives an indication that persons living with disability are always the minority at any given time. As a result it will be agreed that being the minority comes with a lot of consequences which often work against the individual and more than ever those living in developing countries. In these states, disability mainstreaming is long overdue and it takes commitment and sacrifice from the main stakeholders to ensure the rights of persons with disability have been actualized. Currently the government of Kenya is doing a lot in terms of putting up policies and making sure laws of disability are being enacted.
Women Challenged to Challenge is carrying out immense work to see to it that these minority citizens get their rights; one way of achieving this is by providing basic sign language skills to service providers. In 2015, WCC was able to train a total of 25 service providers from Baringo County in the health, security and education sector; this was made up of nurses, nutrionists, teachers and police officers. This skill will help in offering quality services to persons with hearing impairment. In most cases, a deaf person will not get proper assistance from these institutions just because there is no provision of a sign language interpreter and this in itself infringes the rights of this person. The trainees received certificates at the end of the training and it was indeed encouraging to see them introduce themselves and sing songs in signs.
Service Providers trained in sign language-Baringo County
This training is just a drop in the ocean… a lot more can and will be done to ensure that persons with disability particularly women, are able to access quality services as they equally deserve.
