Children with severe disabilities in the country still lack access to school, the latest report by the Ministry of Labour shows.
The Support Needs Assessment for Persons with Disabilities and their Primary Caregivers 2022 shows that more than half (55 per cent) of children with disabilities aged six to 13 years were out of school due to severe disability.
The children who were not attending school were mainly those with communication, cognitive, self-care and mobility disabilities.
The survey which was undertaken in March 2022 says nearly a fifth (17.8 per cent) of children who were out of school cited financial constraints and lack of special schools as the reason for not attending school.
The main objective of the assessment was to provide evidence on the met and unmet support needs of the diverse persons with disabilities and their family members who provide support in different contexts to inform the design of inclusive social protection schemes.
“Despite the efforts of the government to address the wellbeing of persons with disabilities, significant barriers still exist in access to education, health care, employment, social security, participation in the community affairs, access to public transportation and information,” the report says.
“These challenges are compounded by the limited coverage of programmes and responsiveness to the diversity of the support needs of persons with disabilities,” it adds.
The assessment was cross-sectional and designed to provide estimates for 10 counties and target persons with disabilities aged two years and above together with their primary caregivers.
The 10 counties which include Nandi, Kajiado, Bungoma, Migori, Nairobi, Murang’a, Taita Taveta, Meru, Makueni and Garissa were purposively selected to represent the former provinces in Kenya.
The assessment collected both quantitative data from persons with various domains of disability and diverse experiences in terms of the support they receive or require.
In addition, focus group discussions with the primary caregivers were conducted to get more information about the target population.
“More than half of the persons with disabilities reported to have a need for financial support to access health (55.5 per cent) and rehabilitation services (64 per cent) respectively,” the report says.
The list of registered persons with disabilities from the National Council for Persons with Disabilities (NCPWD) was used as the sampling frame for the quantitative data.
According to the report, nearly two-thirds of persons with disabilities lived in large households of five or more members.
“About four per cent of persons with disabilities lived alone implying exposure to loneliness, social isolation and lack of physical and social support,” the report says.
The report shows that the majority of persons with severe disability lived in households with more than five members while about three-quarters of persons with disabilities living alone had cognitive disability.