WhatWENeed Campaign Messages by Winfred Wanja Kirumia – Kenya

WHAT WE NEED

1. Inclusive social protection: We need policies and programmes that are designed to understand the ways persons with psychosocial and invisible disability’s function and participate in their communities
2. Community support: Persons with psychosocial disabilities require support to be integrated into their communities to enable them to participate in activities meanifully and to have access on an equal basis to persons without disabilities to community living
3. Strengthening partnerships.
4. Creating awareness on GBV faced by persons with psychosocial and invisible disabilities.
5. Formulation of support and protection mechanism policies into place.
6. Programmes to address gender and equality of social services in a certain way to address inclusion, bias and rights holders.
7. Work on issue of inclusive policy, policy research in the rights of persons with psychosocial and invisible disabilities as put forth in the convention on the rights of persons with disabilities.
8. Advocacy and policy change.
9. Foster a welcoming and inclusive spaces plus provide networking opportunities to stay informed on disability issues and promote organisations of persons with psychosocial disabilities relationship with members of disability communities.
10. Participate and join disability focused online discussions, public participation meetings and various disability support groups.
11. Understand the power dynamics persons with psychosocial disabilities need to dismantle to be able to engage effectively ableism and meaningful environments of persons with psychosocial disabilities.
12. Effective implementation and enforcement of disability law and policies.
13. Provide equal employment opportunities, training and awareness to better support persons with psychosocial disabilities.
14. Develop disability action plan: Reasonable adjustments should cater to individual person with disability while changes should be made according to your disability action plan.
15. Social Inclusion: Making meaningful connections and participation in fulfilling activities, accessibility and inclusion are important because they give a sense of belonging, positive self-image, problem solving and respect for persons with psychosocial disabilities. This trickles down to their families, communities as well as teaching them to be more accepting of differences.