Hello!

I am glad to welcome you to our organization.

At KSMH, we cherish life with all its human diversity and we accept difference. The organization is home to adults with intellectual disabilities, their human readers, families, and friends. Over the last 40 years, we have stretched our limits to respond to myriad needs that are yet to be addressed by government. We are proud of many achievements that have transformed the lives of thousands of people with intellectual disabilities. Thousands of children and adults with intellectual disabilities have been rescued from situations of profound neglect, abuse, and confinement. They have received home-based interventions and are now living with their families.

However! Millions of children and adults with intellectual disabilities continue to live in situations of severe neglect, suffering, and abuse. The efforts made by KSMH to address the problem are hampered by limited resources, received from well wishers and donors.

KSMH has over the years made all avenues for the protection and promotion of human rights known, and have modelled for the government to implement. Unfortunately, the human dignity, rights, and fundamental freedoms of people with intellectual disabilities remain totally ignored. In fact, very demeaning and degrading labels are used to completely exclude and discriminate upon those with intellectual disabilities. One such avenue that is entirely neglected is the recognition of total communication, with the full application of alternative modes of interactions. To fill the huge gaps, KSMH has remained in the forefront of ensuring increased awareness of human rights by people with intellectual disabilities and their human readers. This is realized through skilled implementation and promotion of Augmentative and Alternative Modes of Communication (AAC) in all KSMH programmes.

KSMH's consistency in articulating the rights of persons with intellectual disabilities has NOT drawn the attention of the Government to this Sector. We are saddened by the fact that the government has NOT taken any tangible steps in promoting a better life for the 3.6 million Kenyans with intellectual disabilities. We remain hopeful that Kenya will begin to meet its obligations under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD). This Convention is now entrenched in Kenya's new constitution. KSMH is actively looking for resources that will enable this sector to make a valuable contribution in formulating laws and policies that protect the rights of persons with intellectual disabilities under Kenya's new constitution. We are also in the process of focused engagement with the health sector for the transition from a medical to a human rights model of intellectual disabilities. The organization is going on with provision of services and interventions to the people with intellectual disabilities in all sectors of life.

We invite you to look at our work and would welcome your valuable feedback.

Thank You!

Edah Wangechi Maina

Chief Executive Officer – Kenya Society for the Mentally Handicapped (KSMH)
Expert and Rapporteur – UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (OHCHR)