Some people with disabilities say that they are not agree with the government of Rwanda on the report which says that they are 440,000 people with disabilities in Rwanda, it is said that the number is small because they are counted without considering the people with disability under the age of five, they are requesting the government help them to know those children in order to take care of them through their development programs. The National institute of Statistics of Rwanda says that it is difficult to count and know those children due to lack of knowledge and time.
The recent national census in 2012, in the area of living conditions of people with disabilities showed that there were more than 440,000 people with disabilities in Rwanda. It is proclaimed that only the number of people with disabilities above the age of five is reported, some people with disabilities request the government of Rwanda to consider their peers under the age of five which can help to take care of them. “If a child is born with a visual impairment and is diagnosed under five years of age, he or she can be treated and cured, we don’t know where they are, we only see them when they are old, but They is still hidden in their village” SHIRUMUTETO Innocent, a visually impaired person said .
Although the census found that a big number of people with disabilities in Rwanda are found in the area of not walking at the level of 51% of those with a disability, there is a disability that makes it difficult for those who have it because if left untreated under five years it can lead to chronic diseases. Nicodem Hakizimana, President of the Rwanda Association of People with Skin Disability (albinos) witnesses that people with albinism are in the high risk “birth with albinism requires patience because because they immediately rejected you, if you are not identified under the age of five, it is not always possible to correct the problem of melanocytes, without treating you at the early age, you may have a higher risk of skin cancer. He said
It is said that 41% of people with disabilities in Rwanda have not attended the school, the problem persists at the age of starting school because although 48% of people with disabilities start school, 6.4% reach at the high school level, access to universities is declining because 0.7% achieve it.
SEKAREMA, who currently runs cerebral palsy games, agrees with Niyoyita where they assert that although they cannot cure mental illness permanently but when the owner is identified early, they help him or her to learn and be included in the BOCIA (BOCCIA) Games.
While people with disabilities are demanding to include the people with disability under the age of 5 in the national programs, the National institute of Statistics says that it is difficult to include them in the upcoming general census because it would take them long time, ” our budget for the census is for about 15 days, so, getting those numbers would require us to go to the child’s parent or guardian, and it would be difficult for him or her to accept because the families don’t want to be identified, we need more skilled people to help us ,” said , Kwizera James the national institute of statistics spokesman
Among the number of people with disabilities reported in the Fourth Census in 2012, the number of women were the high because they were two hundred and twenty-five thousand, while the number of men was two hundred and twenty-one thousand, the age group between 50-54 is the highest number of people with disabilities as a total of 38,093 from a total of 10,515,973 people living in Rwanda when the fourth general census was conducted in 2012, the fifth general census is expected to be held in July 2022 as it occurs once in 10 years, when people with disabilities under the five years are included, it may help to cope with the challenges that they face at the old ages majority.
Eric Twahirwa
