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{
    "id": 628409,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/628409/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 291,
    "type": "other",
    "speaker_name": "",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "We, as a country, have never accepted that disability is part of life and anyone of us can find ourselves in this condition. Even in Parliament, some of our Members have become disabled, for instance, Sen. Leshore and Hon. Ghati. Today they have some difficulties moving around. They do not have access to some places. People even distance themselves from them. Some people no longer accord them respect as they used to before they were disabled. I hope governors will understand that when they have people with special needs, they take care of them. For example, they must make sure children with disabilities go to school. In fact, they must be provided with food in school so that parents who normally hide them take them to school. We must provide them with free medical services in the counties because health is a devolved function. It is the obligation of the county government to ensure that such children access medical services in any hospital. We must also establish physiotherapy centres. If the women Senators were given a fund, they would cater for unique cases that nobody thinks about, for instance, physiotherapy services for those living with disabilities. Amongst us, we have persons who have various disabilities. We have blind, lame and deaf people. We even have those who are depressed. That is also a form of disability. How can we take care of them? Therefore, we must not ignore cases of depression. Disability means that your body is not functioning normally. Until we define it in these terms, we will always have different misconceptions. I hope the committees in the counties will classify them so that we can get the different target groups with different disabilities. Madam Temporary Speaker, there is always conflict between people living with disabilities. Some feel they deserve better treatment than others. For example, those who are physically disabled feel that the blind do not deserve special treatment. It is upon us to treat them equally. As we approach the 2017 elections, we must take action. Everyone has his or her own target group among the disabled. It is time we assisted the sector to overcome conflict. We should support each other. That is why the Constitution is clear and it gives the Government the obligation to ensure this is done. I hope the political parties will also do the same. Let us categorize them so that all of them feel that they are being embraced. This will avoid conflict; some of them feel that it is only a particular group that is being embraced. We, therefore, need to amend the Act and classify disabilities. Nobody is happy about disability. If it were our will, we would pray to God to save us from it. With technology, pregnant women from some families go for ultra sound to determine the condition of the unborn baby. We should work to find solutions. The Committees which will be set up in counties must target key sectors, for instance, education and health. We must economically empower persons with disabilities. The disabled have their fund. These committees must monitor how the fund is utilized. Is this fund supporting them? It is a pity that resources set aside for persons with disability do not reach them. It is very hard for them to access their funds. How do we support them? The county governments should provide a conducive environment where people living with disabilities can conduct their businesses. However, this is not the case now. The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposes"
}