Meet Isa Kagiri, a visually impaired student with an eye for music

Disability is not inability. In other words, having a physical disability does not make one incapable of accomplishing tasks. That message reverberates quite hauntingly through Isa Kagiri's newly released song, perhaps aptly entitled  disability is not inability. 

Kagiri is only 22 years old and will be graduating from Makerere University with a bachelor's degree in mental health and community psychology next year. 

He is also visually impaired. Over the last three years, he has been working hard at his degree, but also sparing time to hone his singing talent. Already he has recorded some hits. He goes by the stage name: Jan Lian (pronounced GYA-N LA-YA-N). Kagiri looks all styled up.  He turned up for this interview dressed in a pair of jean trousers, black goggles and a black herdsman's hat.

"I would like to senstise the public that people with disabilities are very capable of doing a lot," he said in interview. "I want people out there to listen to this song and understand through it that we might have physical disabilities, but we are very talented and have got a lot to contribute to society. People should therefore not discriminate against us on account of our disabilities," he added.

Kagiri speaks from experience. He was brought up by his grandmother- a stay-home old woman who survived on weaving mats and baskets for sale. 

"She saved every little penny of her hard-earned income to pay for my education and cater for many other relatives that she looked after at her humble home in Kireka," he narrates. 

Kagiri went to live with his grandmother as a child, after his poor parents paid to pay for his education. In Kireka, he lived with a number of cousins and other relatives that depended on the old woman for survival. 

"It was a big household, he says. 

He attended St. Francis School for the deaf Madera in Soroti district and Iganga SS before joining Makerere University. 

"My grandmother toiled and sacrificed a lot to see me through school. It was from her savings that she got school fees for me. It was particularly difficult in Iganga because of the high school-fees expenses," he says. 

He passed his A levels well enough, scoring 16 points which earned him an admission to Makerere University- Uganda's oldest and most established University.

There are many people that undermined Kaggiri on account of his visual impairment.

"Some of my relatives did not have much hope in me. They often indicated that I had no future because of my blindness," Kagiri says. 

But all this did not deter this young man from pursuing his passion. While at university, he composed and started recording songs during his free time some of which have been recorded at Mosta studios in Entebbe.

After graduation, he hopes to continue pursuing his music as he finds a permanent job.

"My plan is to compose and record more songs that senstise the public about people with disabilities. I would like to tell the world about who we are and that we can make a positive contribution to society," he says.

For now he continues to find all possible avenues and support to promote his music and find a job.