It is Ableism: Naming the Harm, Demanding Change

There is a disturbing video of a Kenyan MP asking a person with a disability (someone of short stature) to run across a podium, to make a point as to why people with a disability cannot be employed in the police force. The MP asks the disabled man to make a ‘salute gesture’ and goes ahead to laugh at the whole scenario, while saying that ‘people should stop joking about hiring disabled people in the police force.’ At the Podium where everyone laughs at the deeply concerning scene of blatant ableism, sits the Cabinet Secretary in charge of the security docket. There is also another man with a disability on the podium.

This has drawn widespread and sharp criticism, as it should. As women with disabilities, we are also adding our voices to condemn it. 

Ableism as violence

At the onset, we are naming this type of violence. It is called ableism. Ableism is a form of discrimination against people with disabilities rooted in the belief that nondisabled people or typical abilities—such as walking, seeing, hearing, or thinking in certain ways—are superior, and that people with disabilities are somehow less capable, valuable, or worthy of inclusion. 

Why is it a form of violence? When we understand violence not just as physical harm, but also as systemic, emotional, psychological, and social harm, we start seeing ableism for what it is. As a social and emotional violence, ableist attitudes—like pity, mockery, or assumptions of incompetence—deeply affect a person’s sense of self-worth and belonging. Constantly being treated as “less than” or invisible is a form of emotional harm.

In this case, and on a national podium, mocking a disabled person (asking a disabled person to be part of the mockery scene), goes deeper than just the people on the podium. It touches on every disabled person in that community. What such public display of ableism does, is it erodes disabled people’s beliefs in systems of non-discrimination, because we do not think such systems will be fair at all! Will they employ disabled people in the police force? Will disabled people feel confident enough to apply for opportunities in the police force when they arise?

Do you also know that even when we consider people without disabilities, not all qualify to join the force. We may know of people who have publicly decried an opportunity to join the police force. It is that they did not qualify. But ableism will have us thinking that only disabled people should not join the force, even though qualified.  

We have asked ourselves many questions. People employed in the police force, is their work only running around? Saluting? Do we have many other roles in the police force that people with disabilities in their diversities can do? Think back about some advocacy gains that have been made in this sector. Initially injured police officers were being dismissed for redundancy. It took a lot of advocacy and litigation to ensure that those who are disabled in the line of duty continue their careers in a dignified manner. 

Indeed, the National Police Service Commission encourages applications from persons with disabilities and works with the National Council for Persons with Disabilities to ensure their inclusion. This must be commended and people with disabilities should apply to the national police force when opportunities arise.

Kenya as a country remains a beacon of hope in the region especially concerning disability inclusion. We have made so many progressive steps including the recent signing into law of a new persons with disabilities law that aligns with values in our Constitution including human dignity, equity, inclusiveness, equality, human rights, non-discrimination and protection of the marginalised.

As a country we must stand by these guiding values. People with disabilities must be accorded their inherent dignity. In our diversities we exist, and we must be allowed to exist with dignity. We must be hired also; it is a commitment that is there in laws and policies that we cannot ‘ableist’ our way out of.

Proposed way forward

As a way forward we reiterate the need for state funded public awareness campaigns to address negative stereotyping of people with disabilities. In every human population, people must be offered choices. There are people with disabilities who will want to serve in the police force, in different capacities, not just to the ones meant for running and saluting. Others will not. Those who wish, must be afforded these opportunities. 

We must continue to collectively challenge systems of oppression against disabled people and other marginalised groups to realise shared growth, dignity, and justice as a community.