Overcoming disability

Women with disability must do their best despite their situation, writes ESTHER INGOLO

"If every International Women’s Day includes girls in some way, then thousands of minds will be inspired.

When I think about my situation, a powerful one-legged woman as I call myself, but registered as a person living with disability by the National Council for People Living with Disabilities, I remembered some women I have connected with who live with disability.

Winnie has an intoxicating smile, a heart of gold and is beautiful. She is a paraplegic and uses a wheelchair. She moves it with so much grace. Everytime I look at her, I almost want to ask her why she cannot just stand up and walk because she looks fine. The first time I met her, she told me how she has to live with someone in the house. She wears adult pampers so as not to soil her clothes, she has to wake up every three hours at night to get the house assistant to turn her so that she does not get bedsores...Stop! I almost screamed when I heard what she has to go through.

Esther Ingolo Photo: Pius Cheruiyot

Devota has the most honest eyes. She chuckles like a little girl and has a stunning figure. She is full of humour. She has had polio from the time she was three years old and uses the triceps crutches and braces to support her legs. She too, has to use a wheelchair when she is not wearing the braces, and is fully dependent on a friend to assist her.

Rose has starry eyes and has a permanent smile and a great personality. She is deaf.

These three women have taught me patience, to appreciate the little things that I take for granted, to stop complaining and to reach out and inspire other women.

The executive director, Association for Safe International Road Travel, Bright Oywaya believes that women living with disability have made strides but there is still room for more. Most of them are not empowered. They have not had mentors. She reckons that more visibility is needed and with the theme this year, we are on a roll because connection jump-starts the whole process.

Nafisa Khanbhai, the founder of an organisation, Dear Diary, a group involved with advocacy in disability issues in Mombasa says all women are equal. The only challenge is the community. She says many people discriminate against women living with disability. Last Sunday, she donated white canes to blind children in Likoni and reckoned that girls should strive for the best.

We are responsible for our lives, no one will ever be. So as we mark this day, I want to pass this on — I have learnt that we must use what we have to run towards our best despite the situation. Thought by thought, choice by choice, we craft our lives through our conscious and unconscious choices. I don’t see that as burdensome, I see it as one of the single greatest privileges of being alive.