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{
    "id": 950566,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/950566/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 163,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Sakaja",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13131,
        "legal_name": "Johnson Arthur Sakaja",
        "slug": "johnson-arthur-sakaja"
    },
    "content": "somewhere or a family that is raising a child who suffers from one of these conditions. I have a nephew who is very close to me who is autistic. I also know many other children who suffer from such neurological disorders in this city. Around seven years ago, when the President of this country was still serving as a Deputy Prime-Minister, we went to visit a children’s home in Nairobi that takes care of children with permanent neurological disorders. Incidentally, the institution that we visited is run by Sen. Mpaayei’s sister. She gave us very inspiring and harrowing stories. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, Sen. Mpaayei’s sister informed us that every day, there are very many young children in Nairobi County as well as very many other counties, who because of the level of poverty of their parents, are locked in their houses in slum areas because their mothers have to go and look for money. Such women will probably go to sit around Yaya Centre or in the estates and wait for people to pick them to do cleaning at a fee of Kshs150 or Kshs200. Some mothers to children with permanent neurological disorders also work as house helps. Some of children with permanent neurological disorders are locked or chained in the houses without food because if their mothers stay with them in the house, there will be no food. Such mothers cannot carry their children to work and there are no institutions such as day cares that can take in such children. We were really saddened by such stories. I am happy that we were ultimately able to acquire a big bus which today goes around the slum areas to pick children with permanent neurological disorders and take them for therapy sessions. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, some of the inspiring stories are that many of the children with permanent neurological disorders had improved because they can learn specialized skills. Many of the children have improved very well on certain aspects. Some of the children, who were unable to walk because of the neurological defects, are walking now and learning at their own pace with different attention to detail than normal children. We do not have enough Early Childhood Development Education (ECDE) centres that provide education for children with neurological defects such as Autism. I am glad that some of my colleagues in the National Assembly establish blocks in the ECDE centres to cater for children with neurological defects. The former Women Representative of Nairobi City County, hon. Rachel Shebesh, established some special needs blocks in some schools and got qualified teachers to teach children with neurological defects. However, more must be done. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I know families that are considering relocating from Kenya because their children are not getting specialised healthcare that they require to learn when they have neurological defects. I know you are tech savvy, I therefore urge you to Google on the special talents of autistic children. You will be surprised at the number of autistic children who perform so well on international talent shows such as America's Got Talent. The autistic children play wonderful music that none of us can. There is a spectrum referred to as empathising–systemising theory of Autism. Dr. Simon Baron-Cohen wrote a paper that led to a lot of research on the field of cognitive and neural basis of systemising. His theory proposes that the human mind possesses a systemising mechanism which helps to identify lawful regularities that govern input- 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."
}