By Charles Kakama

PERSONS with disabilities (PWDs) have asked the Government and service organisations to give priority to their colleagues living in rural areas, saying they are marginalized.

Andrew Biyinzika, the councillor for PWDs in Jinja central division, noted that organisations that aid disabled persons concentrate on urban centres, leaving out those in villages.

“People with disabilities who live in towns make a small percentage of our group. There are many disabled persons in rural areas who cannot even afford a wheelchair,” he said

Biyinzika cited a 14-year-old HIV-positive orphaned girl who lives in Walukuba division slums and cannot access health facilities due to her physical disabilities.

He was speaking during the launch of the universal access to HIV services for persons with disabilities programme at the Jinja town hall on Thursday.

The function was organised by the Jinja Union of persons with disabilities in partnership with the national union of disabled persons of Uganda (NUDIPU), DANIDA and the Government.

Esther Namulinda, a member of the union, said due to neglect by society, some disabled persons engage in unprotected sex, which exposes them to HIV.

Namulinda added that PWDs have poor communication skills due to low levels of education and lack of sign language experts.

Sulaiman Kafeero, the NUDIPU programme assistant for disability and HIV, said they adopted the use of sign language and brails to enable PWDs benefit from development programmes.