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{
    "id": 826102,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/826102/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 279,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Cheruiyot",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13165,
        "legal_name": "Aaron Kipkirui Cheruiyot",
        "slug": "aaron-cheruiyot"
    },
    "content": "On many occasions, we do not see this category of legislators who come with the kind of gusto and passion with which you speak to matters to do with PWDs. Therefore, I encourage you to continue to soldier on and not be discouraged by anything. I also encourage you that this Motion speaks about something that is so important that cannot be left at the level of a Motion. What you are proposing must be captured in a Bill. There are many issues that have been canvassed by various Senators about challenges that are not specific to citizens with hearing impairment but of PWDs in general. Therefore, I feel that on this specific matter that you have addressed yourself to, it is important to come up with a Bill to support this initiative. Madam Temporary Speaker, earlier on, during the beginning of this current session of the Senate, I sponsored the Persons Living with Disabilities Bill. There are a number of issues that are addressed in that particular Bill. However, somewhere along the line, my colleague, Sen. Mwaura, who is also nominated under the category of looking up for the needs of PWDs, presented to me another separate Bill which he was sponsoring. There were certain areas of shared interest and concerns. Therefore, we collapsed it into one Bill which we are jointly co-sponsoring with him. The great linguistic scholar, Noam Chomsky gave us a quote that if we seek to silence those who we despise, then we cannot speak as people who have any regard to freedom of speech. If a person suppresses the voices of those they despise, they are not defenders of any freedom. Therefore, with regard to this particular matter of Signing Exact English (SEE), which is the kind of language that is used for this specific people, I listened during the presentation by the Mover of this Motion and I learnt so many things which are not known to a normal person like me. I did not know that these are the challenges that these special group of people is going through. A person could be seated in the classroom and believe that since there is sign language for people with speech difficulties and Braille for the blind, the level of understanding will be the same. However, as I listened to her and other colleagues who spoke later, I have learnt that so many things get lost in translation midway through the presentation, once a trainer is moving from English language to the specific language used as a medium of communication for people with special needs. Therefore, it is important for us to try and find ways for children in schools who have special needs to be as competitive as possible. The primary school that I attended had a special class called the Special Unit Class. Unfortunately, with our little innocent but extremely ignorant minds, we kept on looking at those children as if they were the wretched of society. It did not help their course that they had been given a separate class at the furthest corner of the school, somewhere close to the fence. That is where they used to sit. May God bless Mrs. Juma who used to teach these special children. Somehow, she would always find a way to communicate with them. The rest of the teachers in the school could not calm them down when they had fits of rage or difficulties in communicating. However, when Mrs. Juma was called on, she would always find a way to calm them down, get the right information and put it across to them. The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor, Senate."
}