Inclusion Africa-Nairobi

Travel to Nairobi was uneventful if long, and we were met at the airport and transported to our hotel. Was somehow still awake, so we had dinner and I was, of course, the first one to leave and head to sleep.

The meeting on Wednesday with Inclusion Africa included representatives and participants from more than a dozen countries. There was simultaneous translation into French for participants from French speaking countries. After welcomes and short presentations from various dignitaries

, I did my usual discussion of Article XIX and then the meeting was mostly devoted to questions, discussions and planning among the participants.

A series of issues and ideas were presented and most of them will sound familiar:
1) Who will be there for my child when I am not there? There are no services and families spending $ out of pocket to provide supports for their children. This greatly disadvantages families who are poor and excludes people from any time of formal support.
2) How to get more children to grow up as adults to become more independent?
a. Making certain that children in early childhood development center go to mainstream schools
b. Making schools and governmental organizations fulfill their social responsibility to people with disabilities?
c. Educating children and families who have children without disabilities about disability and exposing them to children with disabilities.
d) Training people in school so they will have skills to work.
3) Use technology and networks to link families and people with disabilities.
a. Rapid social changes in developing countries that will impact on people with disabilities-the impact is not known or understood.
b. Where to start-different in Africa than in Eastern Europe as few people are in residential institutions and therefore few financial resources to be redirected.
4) How to interact with religious institutions?
5) Use children with and without disabilities to help educate adults about disability. Children can be more accepting than adults.
6) Parents resistant to allowing their children with disabilities to participate in self advocacy programs.
7) What can the child with intellectual disabilities do in a particular community? As children age must have vocational training so that adults with disabilities can be productive and accepted?
8) Undertake a stakeholder analysis with the whole community as to what the stakeholder needs and what they can contribute.
a. Form parent self help groups to share experiences and support each other
b. What contributions are there for people with disabilities?
9) Inclusive education challenges. What happens when child with disability becomes an adult at 21?
10) Projects in Malawi using mothers to support other families.
11) Changing education laws to support inclusion.
a. Training of teachers
b. Funding
c. Some parents afraid or unwilling to send their children with disabilities to school
12) Coordination of implementation of convention. Which ministry will be responsible? Governments are unclear.
a. Disability impacts all domains
b. Each ministry, not just one or some
13) Significant problems with both physical abuse and ongoing sexual abuse
14) Government has signed the disability convention but a national council on disability to coordinate and highlight issues has yet to be established. (Tanzania)
a. Even though government created a law to implement CRPD the law has not been implemented.
b. Projects to create awareness of issues and challenges among families and government officials
c. Deliver skills to both parents and self advocates
d. Work to move from medical model to more social model
15) Handicapped International – issue of rights should be a focus.
16) What does living in the community mean in the African context? This is the big question and calls for more exploration and work. And it is African contexts, not just a single context.
17) What are the other factors- political, economic, etc. that get in the way of living in the community within the African context.
18) Take into account different cultural practices. Who lives where? Families together and close is a tradition to be honored.

All considered the issues, taken in their totality could be overwhelming, yet there is a sense of optimism from most of the participants.