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"id": 1267648,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1267648/?format=api",
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. (Prof.) Kamar",
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"speaker": {
"id": 33,
"legal_name": "Margaret Jepkoech Kamar",
"slug": "margaret-kamar"
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"content": "Mr. Speaker, Sir, the rights of PwDs are, therefore, affected on several levels. They are hampered as far as education is concerned. So, they do not get education at the right time. We know that disability takes you back a few steps, but we must facilitate to ensure that everybody, according to the Constitution, is taken care of, that equality is ensured. I thank our sister for emphasizing in this in the Bill that equality is a right. We need to address all Kenyans equally, whatever their disability. Some of the things that are happening in the education sector are extremely surprising. We have children that need braille, but how many teachers in the primary school have been trained on how to use braille? There is nothing wrong with a child who wants to use braille. They are otherwise very healthy. It is just that they cannot see and need to use braille. Do we need to have exclusive schools with braille yet they can hear, talk and even translate? Recently, we went to special schools in Uasin-Gishu as the Committee on Education. One is a special school that hosts children with albinism. It is a school I am very proud to be associated with from inception. This is because of the outcry that people were looking for organs of children with disabilities out of cultural ignorance or whatever it is. When we went to this school with the Committee on Education, we were very surprised to find a teacher who is a visually impaired person, like our sister would say, teaching children in a normal classroom. If Sen. Nyutu was here, I am sure he would mention this in his own speech because he was in shock. We had five minutes, but we sat there for 20 minutes to see how the teacher was teaching these students. He was teaching students in a normal classroom. Surprisingly, he was even able to write on the blackboard. He was teaching mathematics and writing things on the blackboard in a straight line without any interference. Practice makes perfect. I believe God gives these people extra sense. We were very happy with that school because they were posted a teacher who was visually impaired and they decided to bring braille. Believe me or not, the other children are requesting to learn braille just for fun. This is where we should be going. Mr. Speaker, Sir, international law requires that PwDs should be integrated as much as possible. We are going to bring another Bill on sign language. It might interest my sister Sen. Crystal Asige to be part of that Bill. It is a very dear one to me. I have also been participating in a school for the deaf in Uasin-Gishu, which is another school we visited with the Committee on Education. In the Sign Language Bill, we are also saying that these children should be integrated. This is because except for the fact that they do not hear, they can do anything with anybody, but need to sign because that is their language. For that reason, we are going to be proposing to the Senate that sign language should be one of our languages. According to the Constitution, it is one of the languages anyway. We have English, Kiswahili and Sign Language. So, why should all children not learn Sign Language? Mr. Speaker, Sir, once upon a time you and I were in the Cabinet. During that time, I went to a Science and Technology Conference in Japan. I learned something amazing that in Japan, they believe a child can learn anything between five and seven years. Between that age, they impact anything they want a child to learn. If our children The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard Services,Senate."
}