Right to employment: Persons with disabilities must be given a chance to earn a livelihood

Persons with disabilities continue to be among the most marginalised groups in Kenya.

A new report by the Public Service Commission released this week shows that a mere one per cent of people with disabilities (PWDs) are in the civil service, way below the constitutional threshold.

This translates to 1,082 people out of a workforce of 106,724.

Denial of equal employment opportunities to PWDs is the root cause of the poverty that afflicts this group. And PWDs are more likely than non-disabled persons to experience disadvantages, exclusion and discrimination in the labour market.

When they work, they can often be found outside the formal labour market, performing uninspiring low-paid and low-skilled jobs, offering little or no opportunities for promotion or other forms of career progression.

In Kenya, Article 54 of the Constitution recognises and specifically details rights of persons with disabilities. These include the right to be treated with dignity; equal access to educational facilities; reasonable access to all places; use of sign language, Braille or other communication; access to materials and devices to overcome constraints arising from the person’s disabilities.

More importantly, Article 54 entrenches the affirmative action principle to facilitate the progressive realisation of at least 5 per cent of persons with disabilities in elective and appointive posts.

Section 13 of the Persons with Disabilities Act 2003 provides that the National Council for Persons with Disabilities shall endeavour to secure reservation of 5 per cent of all casual, emergency and contractual positions in the public and private sectors for persons with disabilities.

RATIFYING CONVENTION

Other legislative frameworks that Kenya subscribes to include the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) which Kenya ratified on May 19, 2008.

By ratifying the convention, Kenya undertook to ensure and promote the full realisation of all human rights and fundamental freedoms for people with disabilities, without discrimination of any kind on the basis of disability.

However, despite the progress made through putting in place various legislative and institutional frameworks in Kenya, persons with disabilities still lose out in the job market.

Perception, fear, myth and prejudice continue to limit understanding and acceptance of disability in workplaces. Myths abound, including that persons with disabilities are unable to work and that accommodating a person with a disability in the workplace is expensive.

In July 2014, the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR) released a report “From Norm to Practice”, which explored the extent to which Kenya has fulfilled its obligations to protect, promote and fulfil the rights of persons with disabilities in 12 counties, which were monitored during the period 2011-2013.

The report looks at various sectors including access to education, health facilities, built environment, among others. In terms of employment, the report reveals that persons with disabilities continue to experience discrimination yet the Constitution provides a framework to address this injustice.

BARRIERS

Some of the barriers identified include low levels of education, poor attitudes among persons with disabilities, poverty, lack of workplace support, and weak implementation of tax exemptions, stigma and economic prejudice.

The findings also reveal that the mode of dissemination of information on new job opportunities is limiting as many advertisements are done in newspapers and via internet which many of the persons with disabilities may not have access to.

As a result many fail to apply for certain jobs, not because they do not qualify but because they lack the necessary information.

Besides the issues revealed by KNHCR in the report, it is important to note that many reactions that persons with disabilities encounter arise from social attitudes. When the social attitudes are positive, it is easier for them to integrate into society but when they are negative, inclusion is seriously hindered and personal, professional, social or family related problems occur.

Such negative social attitudes are when a child with disability is deprived the right to education by the parents and the society at large; when an employee with disability is not offered the necessary facilitation such as flexible hours of working, relevant equipment such as Braille for the visually impaired.

Others are when a person with albinism is viewed as an opportunity for people to grow rich because their body parts fetch a lot of money and when matatu operators refuse to carry a persons with disability on a wheel chair because of the space the wheel chair will occupy and the time wasted in carrying the person, etcetera.

These actions are extremely stigmatising and amount to gross violation of the rights of persons with disabilities.

It will require concerted efforts by all of us to fight against discrimination of persons with disabilities in employment. Every citizen has a moral duty to ensure that these people are treated equally.

Mr Anyenda is a Senior Public Relations Officer with the National Council for Persons with Disabilities