By Sarah Nakasenge
Racheal Anyango vividly recalls the day she missed school because all the motorcycles she hailed declined to take her, forcing the 23-year-old Kyambogo University student to move to a hostel to ease her commutes to the campus.
Anyango, who is pursuing a bachelor’s degree in Community Development and Social Justice says she got sudden paralysis in 2017 when she was preparing to do her Senior Six examinations. Since then, she has been using a wheelchair.
“I was shocked because I never [imagined that] I would get paralyzed. I never got sick [or suffered from a disease for a long time], it was just sudden,” Anyango narrates.
Since then, life has never been easy for Anyango.
Education journey
Following her paralysis, Anyango dropped out of school for over two years because she could not navigate the school environment as a student with disability. It was more difficult because her peers had known her before the paralysis and seeing herself in a wheelchair while her peers were playing and running around was traumatizing.
When she returned to school two years after she suffered paralysis, reality sunk in. The school environment wasn’t user-friendly for People with Disabilities (PWDs).
“At first, the school had no ramps, but when they were reconstructed, the classes were accessible; even the toilets were accessible because we had one special toilet,” says Anyango. She adds that many times all lessons were conducted in one class because of her situation. This is because not all classes were accessible.
At Kyambogo University, Anyango says the situation is better. She says within her faculty, all buildings are accessible, the only challenge being the state of the roads within the campus. She explains: “[It is difficult for me to access lectures, especially when it rains. Sometimes I don’t attend [lectures],” Anyango narrates.
The mobility challenges within the campus pale in comparison to the difficulties Anyango faces while using public transport, especially when she would commute from Luzira to go for lectures at Kyambogo University using boda bodas. After classes, friends would push her in a wheelchair to a taxi stage. They would advise her to take a taxi with them but this soon proved a challenge. Anyango says she would pay for both her seat and her wheelchair and friends would often contribute to her transport cost. She describes using public transport as a nightmare for people using wheelchairs.
One fateful morning, after a boda boda rider had dropped her at the taxi stage, Anyango says a taxi driver stopped to pick her but the conductor made a comment that broke her heart. He told the driver: “Tugende; ono ajja tukuba ebisirani bya bwerere ku makya kuno” meaning “let’s go; this one will give us bad omens for nothing this early morning”.
“One of the biggest challenges wheelchair users face in Uganda is the derogatory language these taxi guys use when they find you on the road. Those words make you [miserable and traumatized]”, says Anyango.
Accessing a motorcycle, explains Anyango, can take you almost half an hour because some of them refuse to take her and “many of them see our assistive devices as an inconvenience…If you get one, then he will overcharge you because he knows you have no option. [This means paying highly] for public transport,” she says.
What Government Should Do
Anyango suggests that every public building should at least have a ramp for wheelchair users. She says while elevators could also work, ramps are more convenient and always accessible.
She adds that PWDs deserve respect. “Some people are too rude, they undermine us and ignore us. Training should be given to all public servants specifically on how to treat PWDs and stop discrimination.
“I know my rights but I don’t fully utilize them because of the unconducive environment. For instance, I have rights just like any other human being as enshrined in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UN CRPD) but [when I go to] places like hospitals, nurses sometimes treat us badly; they even ask us how we climb beds to get pregnant. I’m not yet a mother but this is often faced by friends who are mothers,” Anyango narrates.
She further says before any building is constructed, responsible government departments should ensure the plans take into consideration accessibility for PWDs. She notes that PWDs should be included on committees of Building Control Acts to ensure their needs are met.
What Government Says
Robert Kisakye, a senior licensing officer at the Ministry of works & transport, says relevant laws such as the Traffic and Road Safety Act, 1998 (Amendment) Act, 2020, and The Persons with Disabilities Act, 2020 clearly define how everyone has a right to access and usability of the road.
Kisakye specifically singles out The Persons with Disabilities Act, 2020 saying it requires every public means of transport to be accommodative and ensure PWDs can access vehicles. He adds that PWDs should not be charged for their assistive devices.
“The only challenge is that our vehicles do not yet have walkways that PWDs can [use] to access their means but we are working on it. Now that we have the laws, even the designs are going to be implemented.
Secondly, when you look at the newly constructed roads, we now [cater for] everyone that uses the road, including PWDs. That’s why we now have walkways strictly for PWDs where they can access the road freely and safely. Our remaining task is to put them into action,” says Kisakye.
He advises that motorists have to be considerate as well. “When you find a PWD crossing [the road], you have to be extra careful. When you look at our traffic lights, some of them have buttons where PWDs can press and communicate to motorists to stop for a visually impaired person to cross at his or her own pace.”
He points out that there is a need for sensitization on some of these features on our roads. He cautions that failure to adhere to these regulations attracts penalties.
Mylean Kyomuhendo shares Anyango’s challenges in accessing public buildings. She says some PWDs would, for instance, be interested in opening businesses in shopping malls but some malls are not accessible to PWDs. “Some of us get capital to start a business but it’s challenging to be carried from the first floor to the third floor to ease yourself. This is happening because people are not following the laws…the engineers, supervisors: you’re all doing us injustice,” says Kyomuhendo
She also highlights the accessibility challenges in hospitals and attitudes of some medical personnel who ask insensitive and rude questions. Additionally, she points out the challenges that come with using taxis and toilets in the markets which are not user friendly for PWDs.
Kyomuhendo calls upon government entities to ensure laws that accommodate interests and rights of PWDs are implemented and respected. She says inaccessible buildings would not have been in place if the owners adhered to the set building standards.
