It is ironical that the Judiciary is at the forefront of violating the rights of disabled people . Justice David Majanja summed it up in his ruling in the case of Paul Anup Pkiach and Another versus Attorney-General and Another.
He said the structure of the Milimani law courts was a hindrance to disabled people seeking justice. The judge described access to the entry lobby of the building as restrictive to people in wheelchairs, the witness boxes were raised, making it difficult for the physically challenged to get access to the stand, and the parking bays were set at a lower level.
Some of the entrances to the court rooms were also described as not being wide enough to accommodate a wheelchair.
I do not know whether the situation at Milimani law courts has now been rectified. However, I know that what the judge said is reflected in several court buildings that I have visited across the country.
The Judiciary is not alone in disregarding the needs of these people.
Many county governments have spent billions to buy ambulances for their hospitals. Yet a visit to these hospitals will tell you that a blind person or someone in a wheelchair will have great difficulty accessing these hospitals because of the design of the buildings and lack of signage in Braille.
This is the situation in most public buildings. I can also confidently say that all public service vehicles in this country are not easily accessible to the disabled, yet the stakeholders, such as the Matatu Owners Association, are concerned about pimping up their matatus and readily calling strikes when they think the government has introduced rules that are unfavourable to their business.
We celebrate the innovation of mobile money transfer services but we do not care to ask why there are no subsidised screen readers for the blind.
The disabled are still unable to access the ATMs of many banks across the country, even as the banks boast that they are the best.
As we prepared for digital migration, we watched as concerned television stations fought to protect their billions worth of investment. They had and still have every right to do so.
However, it should not be forgotten that apart from the national broadcaster, only one of the television stations has sign language interpretation during news and other important programmes.
Profit should not be the only aim of our business. We should care about the vulnerable among us. It is not enough to say that we have employed a few disabled people in our companies and government ministries.
It is not enough for the government to say that 30 per cent of its contracts are reserved for the disabled, just like it is useless for companies and the government to call themselves equal opportunity employers when their websites are not accessible to blind people.
The violations are in all spheres of our society and the list could go on and on.
Let us all play our part. It is not just a moral obligation that we have to fulfil; the supreme law of the land and the law on disabled people demand it. But this will not be achieved unless we change our attitude.
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