“I have cerebral palsy spastic quadriplegia, meaning all of my limbs are severely affected by my cerebral. However, I am not defined by my cerebral palsy. There's much more to me than my cerebral palsy,” Julius Van Der Wat, a member of the Dutch Reformed Church in Pretoria, South Africa, told a recent churches’ disability conference in South Africa.
The first edition of the World Council of Churches (WCC) Ecumenical Disabilities Advocates Network newsletter is available, with a theme of "DigitALL: Innovation and Technology for Gender Equality.”
KENYA: People with Disabilities Appeal for Increased Social Protection during Pandemic
By CISA
NAIROBI, MAY 27, 2021 (CISA) – Organizations for Disabled Persons in Kenya have called for increased social protection, retention in work places and inclusion in the efforts to mitigate the coronavirus pandemic.
The United Disabled Persons of Kenya (UDPK), Association for the Physically Disabled of Kenya (APDK), and the Ecumenical Disability Advocates Network (EDAN) have expressed concerns that persons with disabilities are increasingly facing the risk of losing jobs, incomes and livelihoods due to the pandemic.
“While Covid-19 responses are not inclusive to persons with disabilities, restrictions of movements and lockdowns in various parts of the country have deprived persons with disabilities of their support systems and interfered with their access to essential services, including medical services,” said Anderson Gitonga, the UDPK’s Executive Director in a statement shared wi