When I saw the news that matatus (public service vehicles) will give free rides to persons with physical disabilities and the elderly during the elections period, I was tempted to say “that’s a good gesture”. I even shared the information with colleagues in the disability movement. But the more I thought about it, the more I realised that actually, this was not right. Do not get me wrong, I wouldn’t castigate something that is done “in the best interest of someone” which is where the problem lies.
In our society, our structures and systems are still approaching disability from the “tokenism” point of view. We still view persons with disabilities as people “to be taken care of” and that is why this gesture of “we shall ferry persons with disabilities for free on election day” does not inspire any confidence in me.
Here is the challenge. Persons with physical disabilities find that most public service vehicles are inaccessible. This means that persons using wheelchairs or even crutches find a very difficult time to use our public service vehicles. I believe there are ongoing discussions about making public transport accessible to persons with disabilities and this is in line with all human rights aspirations where no one’s rights, of for example movement, are curtailed just because our society does not see disability as part of human diversity.
I welcome the Matatu Owners Association to make this discussion, not as a tokenistic gesture, but rather let there be continuous engagement with organisations of persons with disabilities and persons with disabilities themselves on how to ensure that accessibility is achieved in public transport.
Because my question is, on Election Day, do you think that all persons with physical disabilities will be lined up somewhere waiting upon these matatus? Will persons with disabilities just be bundled into these matatus, seeing that actually most of them have not taken into consideration needs of persons with physical disabilities? To the officials at Matatu Owners Association, what do you think will happen when someone is in a wheelchair and they need to go to the nearest polling station? You definitely know how our matatus are designed, what then will happen? I call to mind the popular song by musician Daddy Owen (Mbona) where some vehicles actually do not stop to pick persons with physical disability.
These are the long term discussions that we need to have as a society. Of course other discussions revolve around issues of capacity, because the assumption is that any person who is economically empowered, and who can navigate the environment around them with ease, then such a person would not be waiting upon a tokenistic gesture such as being offered a free ride. As such, we are looking at changing our environments and knowing at the back of our mind, that the person with an impairment (disability) is not a problem, rather, it is the numerous barriers that are there in our environments which are hindering the participation of persons with disabilities in their communities on an equal basis with others.
We have come a long way from when persons with disability were viewed as objects of pity. As people to be “cared for”, as people with no say as to how things that concern them should run.
In the wake of Kenya ratifying the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, and in addition to various laws such as the Persons with Disabilities Act and the Constitution whereby rights of persons with disabilities are enshrined, we cannot afford neither to be seen to move to the retrogressive past where we treat persons with disabilities as objects of care.
Elizabeth Ombati 