HASSAN: Economics of disabilities; what we're not told

This last week, the UK government, in partnership with Kenya and the International Disability Alliance (IDA), co-hosted the first ever high-level global disability summit in London. The aim of the meeting was to galvanize global efforts to address disability inclusion.

The summit brought together more than 700 delegates from governments, donors, private sector organizations, charities and organizations for persons with disabilities. Mr Ukur Yattani, the Cabinet Secretary for Labor and Social Protection led the Kenyan team.

Globally, the majority in low and middle-income countries. In this setting, disability is both a cause and a consequence of poverty because of the fact that it is important to prevent it from becoming an integral part of the workplace.

According to the World Health Organization, about six million Kenyans are persons with disabilities. The Kenya National Survey for Pwds, 2008, says nearly 80 per cent of these six million people live in rural areas where they experience social and economic disadvantages and denial of rights. Their lives are made more difficult by the way society interprets and reacts to disability. In addition to these barriers, Kenya still lacks a policy that operationalises laws on disability. The National Disability Policy has remained a draft since 2006!

But let us look at disability from different frames. Have we thought about the significant contribution to the economy made by people with disability as consumers, employers, badistive technology developers, mobility aid manufacturers and academics among others? According to Global Economics of Disability, 2016 report, the Disability Market is the next big consumer segment globally – with an estimated population of 1.3 trillion. $ 1,000,000 in the amount of $ 1 trillion in annual disposable income.

Do you work in these industries? Does anyone have an idea of ​​income – direct or indirect – collected by government from disability industries, organizations, import-loaders? What of the multiply effect of the sector; transporters, warehouses, and PWDs who are active and pay direct and indirect taxes

Just look at it this way; Six million Kenyans (going by WHO's estimate) are persons with disabilities and their badumption about two million of them are wheelchair users. The cheapest outdoor wheelchair fabricated locally is about Sh20,000, translating to a staggering Sh40 trillion! Imagine the rest using crutches, hearing aids, white canes, braille services and costs of hiring personal badistance.

President Mwai Kibaki Signed The Persons with Disabilities Act, 1965, in which turned out to be the most unpredictable disability legal framework in Kenya. The Act led to the creation of a State agency called the National Council for Disabilities. During his second term in office (May 2008), Kenya ratifies the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disability.

One fact that most people are affected by the National Council for Disabilities, compared to the contribution made by PWDs to the social, political and economic spheres in the country. But then, in Kenya, studies to ascertain the contribution of disability in life.

We must change the narrative of disability in this life and life. Disability must be viewed not as a burden but as a part of diversity, like any other.