Ugandans with Disabilities Advocate for a More Inclusive Work Environment

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DJP Fellow Christine Oliver Dhikusooka sets out to learn why only 1.3 percent of formally employed Ugandans are disabled – and to uncover possible solutions. She interviews Kose Fatuma, a mother with a physical disability who weaves fishing nets to support herself and her son, and Martha Mutesi, a Deaf schoolteacher who participated in a job training program that changed the course of her life. “The … challenges that people with a disability face when it comes to accessing for employment opportunities, one of them is the attitude,” says Kalule Rashid, chairperson of the Uganda National Association of Cerebral Palsy. “To them here, I’m a person with a disability. … My words or my information I’m sharing here is full of cerebral palsy.” While Uganda has ratified some of the most progressive disability laws and policies in the world, 80 percent of Ugandans with disabilities still live below the country’s poverty line.

Video edited by Desmond LaFave. Jody Santos contributed to this report.