Disability Access News

I thank the New Vision, for highlighting the plight of persons with disability as seen in the April 16 issue article titled �Parents advised on disabled kids.

The article quoted Dr. Regina Zulianello, a paediatric physiotherapist with Katalemwa Chesire Home in Kamwokya, as saying that many children with disabilities die because their parents and guardians associate disability with witchcraft.

Zulianello's views correspond very well with the findings of Uganda National Action on Physical Disability (UNAPD), a non-governmental organisation for people with disabilities.

Zulianello asserted that many Ugandans have wrong beliefs about the causes of disability, coupled with a bad attitude towards people with disability.

It is worrying that there are many average Ugandans who still believe that disability is caused by witchcraft or a punishment from God.

Such people fail to take their children with disabilities to hospitals because they fear to be seen around disabled people. The result of this is that the child may die due to neglect or failure to get adequate treatment for the disability at an early stage. This might even result into secondary disability. Parents should take their children to health facilities as soon as they detect a disability in them because many disabilities can be corrected at an early stage.

The main causes of disability are birth defects, accidents and diseases like polio and malaria.

We should not look at the disabled people as a burden to society. This burden is created by you when you fail to socially, spiritually and economically empower disabled people the way you do your normal children. All children, regardless of their physical status, should be treated in the same way. They should have access to the basic human needs.

Ugandans should look at people with disability with a positive attitude so as to enable them realise their full potential.

Hamad Lubwama
Information Officer UNAPD

Published on: Saturday, 26th April, 2008