Disability is not Contagious!
By Rose Resiato As a woman with a disability, Rose Resiato has often found herself having to take the role of a ‘teacher’ if only to make her community a little more inclusive, and a little more aware about people with disabilities. ‘It is not always easy,” she says, ‘to keep telling people that as a woman with a disability, I am still a person, that disability is not contagious, and that they should not look at me as one that should be avoided.’ It can be tiring, rightfully so, because no one wants to explain their circumstances daily to people around them. No one wants to have people’s lingering gazes on them each second of their life. Yet, as Resi reminds us, ‘ableism is so entrenched in our communities, and we must do all we can to stop it.’ Read on On this day, I was traveling to Nairobi to meet some friends. I chose my usual spot in the bus — the one with enough legroom to sit comfortably. A mother and her young daughter boarded shortly after. The girl was...