Media urged to support learners with special needs

 

media asked toi support learners wit special needs

As a mirror of society, the media has been challenged to accept and support learners living with disabilities who try to uplift their living standards by engaging in regular activities, including sports.

Special Needs Education Director Fred Haga urged everyone to accept learners with special needs, saying doing so would empower them, their families, the community, and the country towards sustainable development through education, employment, and sports, among other affirmative actions.

Speaking during the Kenya Special Needs Sports National Championships in Kericho, Haga, who, despite being blind, rose through the ranks to head the special unit in the State Department for Basic Education, lamented that people living with disabilities are often cast out as misfits in a World full of opportunities for everyone regardless of their abilities.

“The government is giving money to special needs schools, including facilitation to participate in sports, in the spirit of affirmative action to bridge the inequality gap witnessed in the past. We support them and show the World that they are able,” said Haga.

He challenged the media to mainstream disability as a way to inculcate a culture of acceptance of people living with disabilities in society, including reaching out to potential sponsors to change the misfortunes of marginalised groups.

The leader, though living with disability, reiterated that regular sports get popularity since they get airtime on mainstream media, unlike special sports, sending a sense of displeasure, discrimination, hate, and dislike among hard-working learners with special needs.

Francis Manyala, the National Chair of the Special Needs Association, said the government has tried to regularise special needs sports with its limited resources.

Manyala observed that the country was well represented in special needs sports despite the Eastern region recording the least number of participants in the national championships, citing lack of funding.

“We want to join the debate and the immense sports fan base with the message that special sports are equally as great as regular sports and, in fact, better since these are people trying to prove their worth despite prevailing physical and mental challenges,” said Manyala.

He argues that there are special needs schools’ teams that are champions and very tough, just like the regular sports teams.

“Media is a good channel for marketing these teams to even get sponsorships considering the costly equipment required for special students’ sports,” he added.

“We do not have serious sponsors for special needs sports, unlike in regular sports, where sponsors are considered with some being left out since the budgets for regular sports are met and exceeded.

We appeal, beg, and invite those potential sponsors to lend a helping hand in the noble course to enable special needs learners to feel accepted and supported to engage in normal activities without unnecessary anguish of sporting with harmful equipment or lack of equipment and uniforms, among other areas of interventions,” Manyala appealed. 

The National Special Sports Chair noted Teacher coaches and Referees should participate in clinics that serve as refresher courses to update them with new information, including rules and regulations in sports.

The clinics, he elaborated, need to be planned and funded, but budget constraints curtail their practicality in special sports; hence, they are held casually for a few hours before the events, which is unfair to the coaches and referees, some of whom also live with disabilities.

Manyala noted that special needs learners are seriously disadvantaged, claiming that most people don’t even know that these special needs learners are very talented and participate in activities just like regular learners. 

He said Special needs schools are categorised depending on the type of challenge: physical, visual, hearing, deaf, mental, and autism, among others. 

The chair said Special Needs sports were started and facilitated by Non-Governmental organisations and missionaries who understood special needs up until 2004, when the government took over their management.

“When the government took over the running of the activity, there has been growth in terms of numbers, disciplines, and variety of games, and teachers have been trained in the refereeing field, and now there are separate ball games and athletics.

All the regions are involved and participate in sports which start from school-level competitions, Sub-county, County, Regional and National championships, all sponsored by the ministry of education,” he explained.

By Joseph Kamolo Mutua