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{
"id": 884064,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/884064/?format=api",
"text_counter": 358,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. (Dr.) Musuruve",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": {
"id": 13188,
"legal_name": "Getrude Musuruve Inimah",
"slug": "getrude-musuruve-inimah"
},
"content": "Madam Temporary Speaker, thank you for giving me the opportunity to continue with this Motion. Just to ensure that strings run evenly, this Motion is about creating of disability inclusive clubs in all public schools. Clubs are very important in schools because they are co-curricular activities that help even teachers to impart educational perceptions, skills and right attitudes to learners. There are very many ways through which children grow up while in school during their formative years. We have lessons that run from 8.00 a.m. to 3.20 p.m. and then after that, there are co-curricular activities like clubs. It is in the clubs that what is happening in the outside world is emphasised. At an early age when children in school are sensitised or made aware about issues of disability, they grow up knowing that Persons With Disabilities (PWDs) are just like anybody else. That is a better way of creating awareness on issues of disability. It is in school clubs that children get to know about the careers in life. For example, we have mathematics and physics clubs. When students join such clubs, eventually they end up going for career-related areas in those subjects such as mathematics and science. When it comes to inclusivity, we need to do it right from school. We have to get it right so that we send the right perceptions that PWDs need to be embraced. There are some people who imagine that disability is contagious. I remember there is a time I went somewhere and I was walking with crutches. When a small kid saw me, she ran away. I tried to smile but the kid did not even come to me because she had never seen someone walking on crutches. Therefore, we need to make the society aware, from an early age, that disability is not contagious and Persons Living with Disabilities (PWDs) can make a meaningful contribution in life. That, it will champion issues of disability. Madam Temporary Speaker, I have evidence. For example, I got disabled when I was a lecturer at Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT). However, when I went back to teach, my students who had known me without disability helped me to carry books or drive the vehicle. They were helping me so that they could get the best from me. Therefore, we can help the society to know from an early age that PWDs can contribute positively to the country. Madam Temporary Speaker, when learners exit school, they do not remember what they learnt, for example, mathematics, science et cetera ; they remember what they did in school clubs. Therefore, they will remember that PWDs are just like anybody else. They can learn, live, work and marry them. There are some people who imagine that PWDs are not marriageable and cannot be wives or husbands because they have not been sensitized. They imagine that PWDs are sick. For example, if they marry a blind person, they will end up getting a blind child or they will not know how to make love, or if it is a disabled woman, she will not know how to manage a family or carry a pregnancy to term. Madam Temporary Speaker, a good way to sensitize the society is in school clubs. It will be powerful and people will not segregate PWDs. Also, when children exit schools and become managers, they will carry out their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) on PWDs by helping them to have sustainable development that will help them break the cyclic nature of poverty. CSR on PWDs is mostly handouts. They are given food, water or fish which is not sustainable. If a person wants to sustain another person, 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."
}