BREAKING DISABILITY BARRIERS

My name is Jemimah Kutata from Kenya, and i identify as a woman with disability walking with aid of two elbow crutches and a brace on my right leg. i come from a very marginalized community of maasai people where a girl child was not educated and being a girl, with disability from a marginalized community was a triple tragedy. I was born and raised up a healthy baby and at the age of five i was having a cough and my parents took me to hospital and after the injection i was unable to walk. Life changed and i was unable to play with other children, i could not collect firewood nor fetch water like the teenage girls.

life was unbearable because we did not have physiotherapist and doctors who understood different type of disabilities, getting assistive devices was a dream and my family had to put up a wooden parallel bar for me to use and in the morning and evening they could massage me with animal fat which they warm using fire wood to stimulate my muscles. living in rural remote area in a Pastoralists community where families were moving from one place to another seeking for greener pastures and water for animals many children with disabilities died.

I had the desire to go to school and whenever the boys came back home i could request them to teach me what they learned and i could write down on the soil as a girl child could not be given a book as as years went by i was able to master greetings in English and writing my name. one day as a World vision officer was passing by our home she realized i was very intelligent and i could not walk and my parents to take me to a boarding school which was very far away from our home. i had no option and getting an organization to pay my fees was a miracle since my parents were peasant farmers.

Life in school was not easy since i was the only one with disability, some student thought i was sick and others never wanted to associate with me because they thought if they mingle with me they might get disability. I turned my challenges into opportunities when others were waking up at 6:00hrs in the morning i made sure i wake up at 4:00hrs to be able to take shower in a dry bathroom before they are wetted and to have some time to study this made me have favour with the teaches and my performance was good which lead me to be a class prefect. this motivated me so much but issues of the fees became a challenge and i was on an off the school. when i was at home I took knowledge and skills since i had learned the dangers of female genital mutilation. I was the first woman with disability to fight fgm in 1993 and our home was a rescue centre for girls with disabilities, who could not run for their dear lives. Despite of being a woman with disabilities i have a passion in changing live and i took a course in community development and social work which am still pursuing to help me serve the community well. In 2005 i realized girls and women with disabilities share common challenges and i founded a group which later grew to community based organization called Mona Disabled Women. we train girls on their basic human rights, sex and reproductive health , economic empowerment to enable them be independent. We mentor champions who advocate for the rights of children, girls and women.

In 2016 Mobility international USA, Miusa recognized my work with women in rural remote areas and sponsored me for a three week women in leadership training at Eugen Oregon. the same year through Christophel Blindenmission of Germany on 7th Dec 2016 i launched a book on inclusion count at European parliament.

I am an award winning disability rights advocate and transformative leader and in the areas of diversity and inclusion. i have passion in areas of sex and reproductive health and gender based violence for women from rural remote areas.

My dream is to see a barrier free society for all women especially those with disabilities. Disability and poverty walk hands in hand and girls and women with disabilities are at the bottom of the development pyramid. my dream is to get partners who can join me in changing lives of girls and women with disabilities in Kenya through capacity building on their basic human rights, economic and political empowerment and getting reasonable shelter since many live in slums.

Disability is a club that anyone can join it any time.

MY MOTTO: I AM LOUD! PROUD AND PASSIONATE!