The ReachUp! programme has been embraced by these communities. At KEDAN the demand has steadily grown but the numbers of participants enrolled has to be limited due to infrastructural and financial constraints. The programme was adopted at KEDAN even before DOT Kenya began the training of the participants. Alex Makokha, a DOT Kenya Intern, was recruited from the pool of applicants seconded by KEDAN. He and Elizabeth Muthui have worked in all the three centres. Alex, who holds a degree in special education, even offered his fellow Interns a training covering how to interact with special needs participants in the centres during the Intern monthly meeting in August.

KEDAN has a job placement programme which is intrinsically tied to the DOT ReachUp! programme. To qualify for the job placement, their members must go through ReachUp!   So far, four ReachUp! beneficiaries from the first cycle have been placed with major corporations in Kenya. The other beneficiaries have established various businesses and they credit ReachUp! for opening up their minds to new possibilities. Click here for more.

The management of KSB has been equally enthusiastic about the programme. At the recent showcase, Bernard Mogesa, Education Services Manager for KSB was voluble in his praise for DOT and the ReachUp! programme. He recounted the reasons why the KSB management took up the ReachUp! training. “We were very pleased with the idea because it integrates ICT in the life of the visually impaired and also gives them training so that they can be self reliant as opposed to waiting or expecting handouts from donors.” He added that he has been working with special needs communities for a long time but this is the first time that he has seen such a truly unique training because the individual participant is encouraged to do it for himself. He was very impressed with the visually impaired participants presenting their own projects.

Mercy Macharia, Intern Support Manager, recalls the rationale for having an integrated class was because KSB wanted to simulate real world situation so that the persons with disabilities can learn to cope well in the real world. The class was integrated by design - it had participants who are visually impaired (VI’s), physically impaired (PI’s) and able bodied participants because KSB management wanted to “This integrated design had many advantages since the able bodied participants were able to learn that the persons with disabilities can perform many duties unaided if given the necessary skills and a chance. They also learned to get rid of the ‘pity’ mentality (the tragedy/charity disability model) that people have towards the disabled.”

The Interns have also gained a lot from this experience. Because of training both special needs persons and able-bodied persons in the same class, they have learnt the group dynamics involved in such a situation and ensured the exercises and discussions are learner-centred. Elizabeth and Alex also received training in JAWS (Job Access With Speech) software which is a screen reader software programme for visually impaired users. “My attitude has changed. I used to have the classic case of the pity mentality, rushing to help when not asked. But because of this experience I realise that people with disabilities are capable in their own right. They just have an impairment,” says Elizabeth.

The Interns also encountered several challenges. They were some participants who had no prior training in JAWS and therefore more time than anticipated was taken during the ICT modules. The training took longer than expected to accommodate translation from the sign language interpreter. They have taken these challenges in their stride and have come up with innovative ways to mitigate them. They work closely with their participants and offer remedial classes to ensure that all the participants keep up. Kenya Society for the Blind converted the ReachUp! Participant Manual into Braille so the visually impaired participate fully in the training. The partnership with these special needs centres has been a great learning curve for DOT Kenya. ■

- Article by Joan Walumbe and Mercy Macharia