By CTW Team and Jemima Oloo

Disability inclusion includes promoting equity in access to resources and services. It means including fair principles of integration for persons living with a disability.

USIU-Africa has partnered with the University of Arizona to better the experience of persons with disability and especially through Adaptive Sports. According to an article by University of Washington, Adaptive sports are sports that are modified to allow people with physical and sometimes mental disabilities to participate. This includes wheelchair rugby, Paralympics, para swimming, wheel chair basketball, hand cycling and many others.
Integrating adaptive sports in USIU-Africa is one of the golden standards for inclusion according to The Director of Arizona Adaptive Athletics, Professor Peter Hughes.

The team from Arizona University Professor Peter Hughes and Professor Amanda Kraus, assistant Vice President, Campus Life and Executive Director & ADA/504 Compliance office, Disability Resource Center, University of Arizona USA have necessitated conversations that help boost disability-specific sports and the use of sports for safety and development.

The key challenges highlighted include the need for sports administration training, better resource allocation for persons with disability, exposure and social interaction, the need for sensitization to destigmatize disability stereotypes and the need for disability etiquette education.

To overcome these challenges, we have to create a secure support system for persons with disability. Disability etiquette could be an outstanding place for us to begin as a community, this means using respectful and dignified ways to communicate with and about persons with disability.

Ask before you assist- do not assume that a person with a disability needs assistance. Do not touch one’s mobility equipment, be considerate to possible traumatic stress. In scenarios where you are a guide, offer your arm instead of pushing or grabbing the individual. If an individual uses a language interpreter, speak directly to the person, not the interpreter. Always aim to use disability pride language.

These are just but a few ways in which we can create a disability- friendly environment. Each one of us has a part to play in the cause.

Professor Amanda Kraus will provide a disability audit to the Vice Chancellor, having spent two weeks on campus interacting with persons with disability through a public lecture, basketball games and interactive sessions.