Busoga persons living with disability face discrimination

WIN | SIRI | PWDs

BUSOGA - Since October 19, New Vision has been publishing stories highlighting the plight of Persons With Disability (PWDs) and compliance of public facilities with laws governing this disadvantaged group in Uganda. 

In the seventh of a daily series that will run through to October 30, 2022, George Bita explores the discomfort that people living with disability face while trying to access social services in Busoga sub-region. 

In March, Joyce Mary Atim, the executive director of Centre for Spinal Injuries Advocacy (CESIA), got a rude shock outside the Iganga branch of Equity Bank, as she tried to access the banking hall. 

While Atim’s attendant frantically searched for an access ramp, a security guard approached them to instruct her to either leave the wheelchair outside or ‘forget about entering’. 

“I couldn’t believe what I was hearing or even seeing. There was no provision for my entry into the banking hall and now I was being told to literally crawl inside,” Atim, who was confined to a wheelchair at the age of 16 after an accident left her lower limbs paralysed, narrates. 

She opted to return to her office rather than suffer the humiliation that seemed to target persons living with disability (PWDs). 

Atim notes that except for Stanbic and Centenary banks, the rest do not have access ramps that make it convenient for PWDs to access banking halls. 

Meanwhile, Hajira Mukyala, 44, a PWD at Nawampiti trading centre in Luuka district, loathes going to the market as it has no access for PWDs.

“I have to be lifted into the market by well-wishers since I cannot use my hands to move over the concrete steps leading inside. Every time it rains, I have to crawl through puddles of muddy water,” Mukyala laments. 

She adds that the public latrine facility does not cater for PWDs so one has to crawl around the dirty floor in order to access it. 

Buildings need to have access ramps and handrails to make it easier for PWDs to access them.

James Munaabi, the chairman of Nawampiti village, says most public buildings constructed in the past lacked ways of access for PWDs, putting them at a disadvantage. 

For PWDs, Gerald Ochieng from Nsinda village in Mayuge district, observes that it is a daily dilemma for them to access buildings or crossroads to get much-needed services. 

He says lack of access to PWDs has inconvenienced him since 1975 when he sought treatment for leprosy at Buluba Hospital.

“I now have an artificial left lower limb after losing the deformed part. I am able to go fishing on the lake and catch some fish to generate income,” Ochieng says. 

He decries the lack of crossing points on roads, ramps at public latrines as well as most buildings, a situation which compromises access for PWDs.

Hunasa Kyakuwaire, 19, of Namalemba village in Bugweri district, has one leg and a hand. In order for her to move, Kyakuwaire has to coordinate both limbs effectively. 

Karim Maganda, the LC1 chairperson, says to get to class, Kyakuwaire, who is in Primary Seven at Minani Primary School, has to crawl. 

“The rainy season means getting drenched and arriving in a dirty uniform. However, she rarely skips school,” Maganda states. 

Teddy Kafuko, Kyakuwaire’s classteacher, says Kyakuwaire faces some challenges such as writing and walking speed. 

“I am left out of co-curricular activities at the school field. So, I usually sit by the side and watch,” Kyakuwaire says. 

She laments that the lack of facilities that enable PWDs to access buildings at school is a serious source of discomfort. 

“I was allowed to use the teachers’ latrine because it is very clean. However, it also lacks the mandatory side grip, as well as access ramp meant for people like me,” Kyakuwaire says. 

Johnson Balidawa, the school’s headteacher, says contractors who are awarded tenders by the local government to construct such buildings, are to blame for the omission of those building features. 

“It is a universal rule that due consideration must be given to PWDs. I hope in future, the engineers include such vital components in their plans,” Balidawa says. 

Sanitation 

Rachael Mirembe, a Primary Six pupil at Buligo Day and Boarding PS in Iganga district, says the school latrines were not built with access for students with disability. 

Racheal Mirembe, a pupil of Buligo Primary School in Iganga district, entering a building without ramps, with the assistance of her attendant.

“My attendant struggles to help me get around. It is the only way I avoid crawling through other children’s excreta on the floors,” she says. Mirembe expresses her dissatisfaction with the lack of concern for PWDs, saying it is an infringement on her right to basic service. 

Henry Kabulo, the Bugiri district education officer, says contractors have been tasked with ensuring each pit latrine constructed has a special stance for PWDs. \

“This special room has easy-to-hold metallic handrails and a ramp for the convenience of PWDs. The other learners are not supposed to use it,” Kabulo says. 

Hospital hurdles 

When Christine Kisubi, a PWD from Busesa village, Bugweri district, visited Iganga Hospital for antenatal care five years ago, she hoped to get due attention from the midwives. 

Unfortunately, because of her physical disability, she suffered neglect, which still haunts her to date. 

“As soon as the midwives saw me being pushed in on a wheelchair by my attendant, they looked the other way. This was supposed to be my final antenatal visit, but I spent the entire day at the health facility without being attended to,” Kisubi says. 

She says she was so hurt because of the time wasted and the sh20,000 she had spent on a special hire driver to ferry her to the hospital compound. 

“Close to three weeks later, I lost that baby,” Kisubi recalls. She wonders why the hospital lacks the special adjustable beds meant to be used by expectant mothers living with disability. 

“It is our right as PWDs to be offered what is due to us like any other citizen. Unfortunately, our rights seem to be infringed on quite often and with impunity,” Kisubi says. 

She says God was on her side and she conceived again, but opted to get care from a more PWDs-friendly health facility. Dr David Muwanguzi, the former Iganga district health officer, says midwives often have second thoughts about some PWDs because of their paralysis and other disabilities. 

“When the expectant mother is in labour, she may have difficulties that may put her life and that of the unborn child at great risk,” Muwanguzi says. 

He states that a mother who uses sign language may end up failing to effectively communicate with medics on duty, unless there is an interpreter on location. 

Muwanguzi believes that some interventions have been put in place to make sure that Iganga Hospital is more accommodating of PWDs. 

“The recent refurbishment of Iganga Hospital by a Chinese contractor led to the setting up of ramps and handrails in most departments. Even the mortuary has a ramp,” he says. 

Yakubu Tenywa, 34, of Buyanga village, Bugweri district, explains how he was neglected by his parents ‘because he was born with a physical disability’. 

He says: “As a child, I was never taken to hospital whenever I fell sick . My parents would give me herbs instead. I was so lonely. It is unbelievable that I only got to see Iganga town as an adult.” 

Sumaya Kauma, the councillor for PWDs at Iganga municipal council’s central division, emphasises the right of PWDs to access quality social services. 

“It is the duty of the concerned authorities to ensure that there is no discrimination in society,” she asserts. 

Schools' situation  

The UN Sustainable Development Goal Four (SDG 4) tasks nations worldwide with ensuring an inclusive and equitable education. 

This promotes lifelong learning opportunities for all persons. 

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), 2006 cites instances of children and youth with disability being excluded from education, mainly in developing countries, which violates Article 24 on education for all. 

The Uganda Bureau of Statistics data (2019) shows that in Busoga sub-region, an estimated 21.6% of males and 33.7% of female PWDs, had dropped out of school. 

Records equally showed that of the PWDs in the region, 9.3% of the male and 8.9% of the female, have never attended school. 

Lydia Namakiika, the Sense International co-ordinator for eastern Uganda, reveals that there are more than 100 pupils with disability who are finding it difficult to access schools daily. 

“Most inclusive schools take them for granted. There are no ramps on almost all buildings. It is a few newly constructed structures that have the much-needed access ramps and handrails,” Namakiika says. 

She cites an example of Buckley High School; a girls’ boarding primary school in Iganga, as a beneficiary of donor support in making lives easier for learners with disability. 

“So far, more than four non-governmental organisations have offered material assistance to the school’s special needs department. This help includes construction of a new special needs class block and dormitory, and sponsorship in form of tuition for those in the boarding section,” Namakiika says. 

“This input has made life more comfortable for the hearing and visually impaired students, especially with movement,” she adds. 

The enrolment at the department is 41. Of these, 18 are males studying in an all-girls school. 

This article was produced with support from WAN-IFRA Women in News, Social Impact Reporting Initiative grant. However, the views are not those of WAN-IFRA Women In News.

1. New Vision to publish series on persons with disabilities

2. Kampala city unfriendly to people with disabilities

3. Pregnancy in disability: The cry of mothers

4. Ugandan courts lock out people with disability

5. Hoima PWDs face challenge accessing public offices

6. Refugees with disabilities do not have access to services

7. Kiswa School empowering pupils with special needs

For details, get yourself a copy from your nearest vendor or subscribe to our #EPAPER

👉