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{
    "id": 491369,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/491369/?format=api",
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    "content": "Madam Temporary Speaker, 15 per cent of persons with disabilities are likely to be affected by environmental factors on a daily basis and 3 per cent on a weekly basis. This is where we do not put enough emphasis. We need to take into consideration environmental factors like distances that can be curbed, the hostility of the environment which makes it very difficult for people with disabilities to move from one place to another, to go to their classes and to use the facilities that are there. There is lack of consciousness that is never put into place to ensure that, for example, in a specific environment, and by making sometimes very small changes, it is possible for somebody with disability to reach out to press a particular key that they would not reach if they had not been taken into consideration. Madam Temporary Speaker, for 65 per cent of people living with disabilities, the environment is a daily problem. Therefore, that must be changed. A quarter of people living with disabilities work in family businesses, but a third do not work at all. That means that in terms of integration and acceptance, unless a family is able to really have the facilities for them to give an enabling environment or a chance to a person living with disability to work, it becomes impossible. Madam Temporary Speaker, the right to education is provided for in a number of international treaties. Right from 1948 in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights Treaty, the 1966 International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, the African Charter on Human Rights and People’s Rights Article 18, the African Charter on Rights and Welfare of the Child Article 11 and the Convention on Rights of People With Disabilities Article 24. Madam Temporary Speaker, all these instruments are applicable to the Kenyan case. This is because Kenya is a signatory to all these instruments and also via the Constitution which says categorically that every single person has a right to an education. Right from that Article, there is no exclusivity that is being given to say that children with special interest or children who have disability cannot be party to that education. Therefore, it is important and necessary to ensure that the climate, environment, classrooms and more thought is given to ensure that this particular thing happens. This applies especially to the children who have special needs and disability because they need more care. They need more consideration. There is a silent group of people with disabilities who are not even able to articulate what those disabilities are. Remember or try to imagine a child with disability, for example, moving towards schizophrenia, or a mental type of disability, that they are not able to explain the problem. However, the teacher is able to realize that they cannot catch up with the education, the speed and the learning that is taking place. Therefore, a provision has to be made. Madam Temporary Speaker, in this country we have examinations where we test everybody; whether they are special or have disability in exactly the same format without looking at the background. For example, a child with visual impairment cannot catch up with the issues and understand them as quickly as normal children. Some schools are very insensitive where you will find even such children are put in a laboratory and are The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposes only. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor, Senate."
}