Disability Rights Activism in Kenya, 1959-1964

History from Below

Bibliographic Data

ID2104058
AuthorsFikru Negash Gebrekidan (Thomas University, corresponding author)
Year2012
Volume55
Issue3
Pages103-122
Publication date2012-12-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueAfrican Studies Review (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0002-0206 • E-ISSN: 1555-2462
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0002020600007228
OpenAlexW2164551071
LanguageEN
Citations received8
References cited15

This article examines the early history of disability rights activism in Kenya. The transitional years from colonialism to independence were a period of great expectations. For persons with disabilities in particular, decolonization held additional possibilities and potential. National independence promised not just majority rule but also an all-inclusive citizenship and the commitment to social justice. Among the visually impaired of Kenya, such collective aspirations led to the birth of the Kenya Union of the Blind in 1959. In 1964, after years of futile correspondence with government officials, the Union organized a street march to the prime minister's office to attract attention to its grievances. The result was a government panel, the Mwendwa Committee for the Care and Rehabilitation of the Disabled, whose published report became the blueprint for social and rehabilitation programs. The government possessed limited resources, and the reforms that ensued were long overdue. Yet the sociohistorical dynamics behind the march are of particular significance. From the social historian's point of view, they affirm not only the historical agency of persons with disabilities, but also the need to recast and broaden the scope of African social history

Citizenship · Colonialism · Economic growth · Economics · Government (linguistics · Independence (probability theory · Kenya · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Disability Rights and Representation · Down syndrome and intellectual disability research · Law · Migration, Identity, and Health · Public Administration

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