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Hazel Marimbiza

As she delicately approached the podium, Ms Sibonisiwe Mazula, the coordinator of the Zimbabwe Down’s Syndrome Association (ZDSA), vividly recalled how about 31 years ago her joy quickly turned to heartache when she learnt that she had given birth to a baby girl with Down’s syndrome.

Passionately sensitising the neatly congregated crowd on disability issues and inclusion in society, Ms Mazula said her first few days after giving birth were difficult for her because she thought her girl’s future was doomed.

Speaking at a Community Youth Dialogue on Child Protection Issues and Disability hosted by ZDSA, in conjunction with Justice For Children Trust (JCT), meant to map a way forward to ensure inclusion of persons with disabilities in society and to guarantee child protection and access to child friendly justice systems, Ms Mazula credited her family for encouraging her frail self to accept her child.

“It was my late brother who was a doctor who first identified that there was something wrong with my child. He relayed the information to my mother and she broke the news to me. It was hard at first but with their support I took my daughter for checkups and I have managed to care for her according to the doctors’ instructions. Since then, I became passionate about educating other parents not to abandon their disabled children,” said Ms Mazula.

She added: “I have met many women with children who live with disabilities and sometimes the experience leaves me feeling sick because then I tend to ask myself many questions. What is happening in this world? How come all these children are physically disabled?”

While Ms Mazula was saddened by her daughter’s condition just like any other parent would be, her family loved and supported her into accepting her child, something which several other Zimbabwean women who find themselves in her situation fail to get from those closest to them.

“Most women are immediately deserted by their husbands as soon as it is discovered that the new born baby is disabled. To add salt to injury society blames the mother, hardly the father. But I know of a man who has children with three different women and all those women gave birth to disabled children. So in that scenario can we blame all three women?

“Another issue is that I have met women who after being abandoned by their husbands face stigma from society. As a result, if they find new love, they abandon their disabled children in the rural areas because they just want to be accepted by their partners. It just shows that most people refuse to accept their disabled children. They are still in denial,” said Ms Mazula.

Disability is still an issue that is encircled by myths. A number of negative opinions on the causes of disabilities persist in Zimbabwe, such as linking disability with witchcraft or maternal promiscuity.

From a worldwide, historical standpoint, people living with disabilities have been scorned, murdered, abandoned to die and sentenced to permanent exclusion. According to research, Greeks abandoned their disabled babies on hillsides to die, while early Chinese left their people with disabilities to drown in rivers. In Europe, Nero Commodus is believed to have used bows and arrows to kill physically disabled people. Such negative attitudes towards people living with disabilities are still predominant in Africa. In most parts of Southern Africa including Zimbabwe, children born with albinism used to be killed immediately after birth. Further, people with disabilities in Zimbabwe are ostracised and treated as if they are not capable of functioning on their own. Disability is equated with inability.

In an effort to curb stereotypes associated with people living with disabilities, the Legal Officer at Justice For Children Trust, Ms Opal Sibanda, said community dialogues are essential in lobbying and advocating for change.

“We have noted that most times stigma perpetrated to children living with disabilities is a result of our communities lacking information. In our recent interactions with children from King George VI Centre, the children said that in most instances, they get bullied and people just laugh at them because they are viewed as dumb. 

“Thus it has become our mandate to educate communities that people living with disabilities are equal human beings who deserve respect,” said Ms Sibanda. 

A volunteer and youth representative at ZDSA, Mr Bonlat Machiha said what is most painful is that most children living with disabilities do not attend school.

“As they get older they continue to be dependent on others, thus becoming an economic drain on their communities simply because they have been denied the opportunity to be educated and fend for themselves,” said Mr Machiha.

A report by Progression Zimbabwe in collaboration with the National Association of Societies for the Care of the Handicapped (NASCOH), shows that 34 percent of girls with disabilities  in Zimbabwe and 22 percent of boys with disabilities never attend school. The study also shows that children with hearing, visual and intellectual impairments are significantly more likely never to attend school compared to children with physical impairments. 

“It’s alarming to note the numerous number of disabled children who could be attending school like me but are deprived of the opportunity because of their disabilities. Society’s attitude towards people with disabilities reflects a view that people with disabilities are useless liabilities who have no role to play in society. 

“If the government could include disabled people in all schools and have facilities for them, it would improve their lives. I also think it would be great if everyone would know basics of sign language so that we can all interact with those who cannot speak,” said Vusa Moyo, a pupil from Pumula High School.

Mr Algy Machiha, a teacher at Dandande Primary School in Lupane concurred with Vusa.

“In most cases, disabled children in urban areas are privileged to go to school. We would be grateful if the government and well-wishers could help disabled children in rural areas to also go to school,” he said.

Part of the problems facing persons with disabilities are the almost non-existent disability laws in Zimbabwe. This is evidenced by the lack of information about disabilities in Zimbabwe, the outdated disability policies that are in place, the underfunded and largely invisible national body of people with disabilities, the dysfunctional and fragmented disability sector, and the failure to address the growing needs of people with disabilities.

As such, ZDSA and JCT urged the Government to ratify the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in Africa. 

“Our hope is that the Government of Zimbabwe will sign and ratify the protocol that has detailed and refined articles that conform to the rights of persons with disabilities. So far, five African countries have signed the protocol. Zimbabwe and Nigeria are the only ones left to endorse it. 

“The protocol is a great tool that can be used to elevate the lives of disabled persons if the member states that have ratified and signed it or if those who are yet to sign it, not only have the paper in writing but have the policies outlined implemented. Then the lives of persons living with disabilities would be made much better,” said Mr Machiha.

People living with disabilities also remain mostly unnoticed in efforts by the global development community to develop the human welfare and living standards of millions of the world’s poor.