Most of the world's disabled people live in rural Africa and Asia. Most plans for vocational rehabilitation originate in modern cities. Such schemes seldom reach rural disabled people. If they reach them, they tend to be irrelevant and inappropriate, based on assumptions distant from the real life situation of the rural disabled person. This paper starts at the other end, far from New York, Stockholm, Nairobi or Bangkok. It starts with the following probabilities:
1. Disabled people's relatives provide them with basic food and shelter for life, as far as they are able. They might not perform this duty with much pleasure, but they are well aware that it is their duty.
Some time back I wrote about the Rwandan Genocide and its impact on disabled people; the untold story. It never occurred to me that one day I would be writing a similar story about disabled people in Kenya.
The flawed presidential election and the ensuing violence throughout Kenya have rattled the peace and tranquility that the country has long known. The reasons for the current situation are varied, politics, long-standing ethnic differences, and historical injustices and imbalances, particularly the issue of access to and distribution of resources and opportunities.
Denna rapport är en första del av ett projekt vars syfte är att visa de samhällsekonomiska effekterna av personlig assistans. Forskningsprojektet drivs av stiftelsen Independent Living Institute, ILI. Målsättningen är att visa hur assistansreformen har påverkat och utvecklat tillvaron för personer med funktionsnedsättningar.
Social policy is typically not made by the people who are most affected by it. Up to now, we, the users of assistance, have had to accept the decisions handed down to us by other people. Since we are often considered helpless and incapable of taking charge of our own lives, the public and often we ourselves have taken for granted that it is best for us, if others, the professionals make these decisions for us.
Ziel unserer Behindertenpolitik mußsein, dem
Einzelnen mehr persönliche Macht und uns als Gruppe mehr politische
Macht zu verschaffen. Triebfeder und Richtschnur in dieser Arbeit ist unser
Selbstrespekt. Unsere Umwelt bombardiert uns ständig mit Hinweisen,
daß unser Leben bemitleidenswert, lebensunwert und unwünscht
ist, daßwir Bürger zweiter Klasse sind. Viele von uns sind mit
dieser Haltung aufgewachsen und glauben selbst daran. Wir müssen uns
gegen diese Gehirnwäsche impfen, denn wenn wir nicht selbst davon überzeugt
sind, daßunser Leben genauso viel wert ist wie das anderer Menschen,
fordern wir auch nicht die gleichen Wahlmöglichkeiten, die unsere nichtbehinderten
Angehörigen, Freunde und Bekannten in allen Bereichen des Lebens haben.
För oss människor med omfattande funktionshinder är personlig
assistans nyckeln till ett självständigt och självbestämt
liv. Tyvärr har vi idag inte den assistans vi behöver - varken
i kvantitivt eller kvalitativt avseende:
Some time back I wrote about the Rwandan Genocide and its impact on disabled people; the untold story. It never occurred to me that one day I would be writing a similar story about disabled people in Kenya.
Social policy is typically not made by the people who are most affected by it. Up to now, we, the users of assistance, have had to accept the decisions handed down to us by other people. Since we are often considered helpless and incapable of taking charge of our own lives, the public and often we ourselves have taken for granted that it is best for us, if others, the professionals make these decisions for us. 
