A Kenyan start-up is trying to improve the lives of people with disabilities by providing them with safe and reliable means of transport. They report discrimination and difficulties accessing other forms of transport.
Most public transport vehicles in Kenya are not designed to accommodate wheelchair users or people with reduced mobility. For disabled people traveling in Nairobi, services like Ace Mobility are therefore a step in the right direction to make their lives easier.
“When you use public transport, it is not adapted to the needs of disabled people and especially wheelchair users, so what happens is that there are normal seats and your wheelchair cannot fit inside. I mean, none of us wants to be lifted up in public like that,” said Caroline Mwikali, a wheelchair user.
Inspired by the search for a transportation solution for these disabilities, Mr. Gatura, now 27 years old, created Ace Mobility to help people overcome their mobility difficulties and move more freely from place to place.
So far, the startup Ace Mobility has a fleet of fifteen vehicles.
According to the United Nations Population Fund, people with disabilities represent 2.2% of Kenya's population, or approximately 0.9 million people. The most common type of disability in the country is mobility-related, accounting for 42% of cases.
Kenya has a legal framework that promotes the inclusion of people with disabilities, including access to public transport, but in practice these laws often remain unenforced.
“Kenya has a number of policies, for example a transport and safety policy, but when you examine them, it’s very easy to see that they don’t really address the needs of people with disabilities. Despite all the visible challenges we face when interacting with public spaces and public transport, it all comes down to the intentionality of integrating disability issues into these policies and then being intentional about the implementation of those actions,” said Sandra Nyawira, disability inclusion advisor at the United Disabled Persons of Kenya.
According to the United Nations Population Fund, people with disabilities represent 2.2% of Kenya's population, or approximately 0.9 million people. The most common type of disability in the country is mobility-related, accounting for 42% of cases.
