Disability Talk with Mukoma A: The Joshua Malinga that I know
Following the death of Honourable Malinga who was a special advisor on disability to the Zimbabwean President, a lot of positive things have been said about how he impacted the development of disability rights in Zimbabwe and abroad. My shoes are too small to discuss things at that level but I will instead reflect on…
The New Jairos Jiri: A Discombobulating Tragedy
Warning! What I am about to narrate may be very unsettling. I was seated together with a group of friends from college watching television when normal programming was disrupted by a very noisy jingle with the following words: “Driven by the desire to see an equal and inclusive society,, we are pleased to make the…
Spare a Thought for Vengai’s dream
Introduction: There are times when I feel very powerless. In such moments, maybe Mike Oliver of blessed memory would have said “if I had a hammer”. The activist in me is in agony after reading this article. As a lawyer, my first instinct would have been to write a case commentary but unfortunately, this case…
My Blind Life in a Sighted World: Educated and illiterate?
As a matter of principle, I have found attempts to teach me to use a pen very oppressive. I find it quite discomfiting that with all my education, the sighted world continues to treat me as an illiterate person.
Sugar-coating Oppression
If the disability movement in Africa should be reinvigorated, then it must guard against euphemisms such as “differently abled persons”.
Is Knowledge Power? The Monologue of a Disability Rights Activist
Special dedication to all my teachers who sometimes innocently worked diligently to mislead me. Sweet memories have taken me back to those good old days when I was a learner at that place in Matabeleland North called John Tallach Secondary School. Towards the end of 1998, there arose what I will here conveniently refer to…