‘Kiengu Women Challenged to Challenge’ is a voluntary-attended public holiday event led by an organization of women with disabilities, who believe that to achieve results in advocacy is to have allies with people who understand and know what they stand for. One event was intended to push the installment of a ramp to help access to the new office of the Deputy County Commissioner achieving higher awareness in line with the principles of Universal Design.
In the subcounty of Meru there is a PWD’s structure with coordinators in every Sub County and ward representatives. Igembe South-Structure was not recognized by the Deputy County Commissioner until visits started in the Sub Counties with invitations to see that the structure is accessible by people from the whole county. People from as far as Buuri Sub-County recognized them and promised to work with them. Our assurance is that the Commissioner has instructed chiefs to seat PWD’s in the location development committees and ACC's to involve them at the division level. The Commissioner also said he had included the Coordinator in his committee. This means that PWD’s are recognised where decisions are made to make their voice heard.
Attending the event takes positive advantage of the presence of various departmental heads, who are responsible for the implantation of various programs, the platform is used to lobby them on inclusion. This hopefully will further reach East Africa, as Kenya is highly advanced from its grassroots. In Uganda, there is a struggle to make voices of PWD’s heard, especially for the Deaf community.