When the news broke out that patients were fleeing Mathari Hospital, Kenya’s main psychiatric hospital, I knew my heart would be broken just as it had been every time such news was broadcast. It would be broken because I know for someone to flee from a place where they are supposed to find help; then it means one of two things. Either they are not getting the help that is needed; or secondly they are actually facing torture in a place that is supposed to give them solace. This is not new in Kenya. Previously we have read and seen accounts of ill treatment of psychiatric patients in the said hospital.
However, the main reason why I knew my heart would be broken, was the jokes; the making of fun of unwell people; the laughter that would be thrown at these patients; my heart would be broken because the media that is supposed to help us stamp out stigma directed at persons with disabilities; would be the platform that would be used to remind me again and again, that our society is yet to come to terms with the fact that persons with mental illness should be treated with dignity and respect. Persons with mental illness, just as other persons in our society facing disabling conditions need respect for their personhood. Not ridicule and jokes.
And I started to count. I checked on Twitter. The jokes were heartbreaking. I listened to the radio, they were asking people, “if you were seated next to someone with a tag written Mathari Hospital, would you tell the driver to take them back for their dose,’ with interludes of laughter. I checked the Television. There they were also making programs where they did not forget to throw in a line or two on ‘the crazies from Mathari, the chizi type.’ I did all I possibly could. I tweeted back and protested that everyone deserves dignity. That no one should be made fun of by virtue of a disability they have. In one radio station, at least for the duration that I listened, they did not make fun of the persons with psychosocial disabilities again.
I know other people tried to do the same. To write a Facebook post here; to protest the fact that media personalities were using their platforms to make fun of persons with psychosocial disabilities. Yet I knew it could be in vain. Maybe not. It could have been one hundred of us protesting. In our small ways we were saying that our Constitution, Article 54 states this: A person with any disability is entitled to be treated with dignity and respect and to be addressed and referred to in a manner that is not demeaning.
You may even wonder why I am using the ‘person with disability’ when I am referring to persons who were fleeing from Mathari Hospital. The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities which Kenya ratified notes that persons with disabilities include those who have long term physical, mental (…) impairments which in interaction with various barriers may hinder their full and effective participation in society on an equal basis with others.
Our own Constitution states that “disability” includes any physical, sensory, mental, psychological or other impairment, condition or illness that has, or is perceived by significant sectors of the community to have, a substantial or longterm effect on an individual’s ability to carry out ordinary day-to-day activities.
That is why it breaks my heart. That persons with disabilities are protected by our laws but, just because of the entrenched stigma; the belief that persons with psychosocial disabilities have no rights; then it is okay to make them a butt of our jokes.
I posed many questions: To start with I asked, why was the media not questioning the real circumstances that made these persons want to flee Mathari Hospital? Why was it so easy to blame the patients as opposed to asking the main duty bearer who is the government why it is that there is still need to hold on to institutions as opposed to increasing budget for community mental health?
I have checked also the code of conduct for the practice of journalism in Kenya and under Integrity, I see this: ….shall present news with integrity and common decency, avoiding real or perceived conflicts of interest, and respect the dignity and intelligence of the audience as well as the subjects of news. The television channels I watched, the media personalities I listened to all making fun of persons with psychosocial disabilities did not ‘respect the dignity and intelligence of the audience as well as the subjects of news.’
Working with persons with psychosocial disabilities, I continue to look forward to a time that as a society, we may appreciate the role that every one of us plays in ensuring that we foster respect for the rights and dignity of all persons with disabilities. Let us always remember that no one likes it when other people make fun of our limitations. Let us seek to always remember Chapter four—the bill of rights in our Constitution: The purpose of recognising and protecting human rights and fundamental freedoms is to preserve the dignity of individuals and communities and to promote social justice and the realisation of the potential of all human beings.
Elizabeth Ombati 