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Fairness Moyana
Young Simon (not his real name) holds out his hands, his face beaming with anticipation as his mother stretches her arms to lift him up. Quickly, he is whisked away and shut out in a hut before any of the visitors can get a glimpse of him.

Twenty minutes later, the door opens and he is carried outside by his elder sister.

The coast is clear as the visitors depart for their homes. Simon can get back to being “normal” again.

This is the kind of life that Simon, from Gwangwaliba village, Lusulu in Binga, who suffers from cerebral palsy, has had to endure for 12 years.

Like Simon, hundreds of disabled children across the country are being hidden from the eyes of the world to avoid “shame” that is believed to be associated with giving birth to a child with a disability. Stories of some children locked up in granaries and bedrooms have begun to surface as some child advocacy groups delve into this previously neglected scar in society.

There is growing recognition that people with disabilities face oppression in a society which marginalises and devalues those who are perceived different from what society has come to term normal. Disabled persons, who make up almost 15 percent of Zimbabwe’s population, according to 2012 national census statistics, have lower levels of education which ultimately translates into higher levels of unemployment.

As a result, this has resulted in most disabled people suffering from social exclusion.

However, there is evidence that families with people living with disability also face social and economic exclusion. The situation is exacerbated by stigmatising tendencies which lead to social exclusion of both children and their families from community activities and access to mainstream economic resources.

Research shows that lack of formal community support, combined with inadequate services and social isolation, often results in the case of children being neglected. It is this lack of societal acceptance and absence of adapted resources that can transform impairment into disability, experts warn.

Causes of disabilities vary from road accidents, war, polio, muscular dystrophy, cerebral palsy, paralysis due to stroke, restricted growth, epilepsy, albinism, mental disabilities, visual, hearing to speech impairments. Other disabilities are also due to advanced age, cancer, diabetes, HIV and Aids, among others.

Efforts to get sentiments from some parents who were said to be hiding disabled children in Lusulu, Simatelele and Pashu were met with stiff resistance as some of them flatly denied having children with disabilities.

Headman Sunday Sinampande from Matelele village said in his community, giving birth to a child with albinism was considered taboo as it is associated with bad omen. Had the government not outlawed the killing of these children, albino babies would still be left in the forest to die up to this day.

“Yes, we’ve children who are kept indoors all the time. I know one who is an albino who doesn’t go to school for fear of being shunned by his peers as the grandfather is suspected to practise witchcraft,” said Sinampande.

Some of the parents from Binga concede that they hide them, thereby denying them access to basic necessities such as education. This is a depressing situation that has a negative bearing on the general development of Persons Living With Disabilities (PLWDs) and of the district, which is one of the most marginalised ones in the country.

Octavia Phiri, director of Hwange-based Disability Agenda Forum (DAF), said her organisation was expanding its programmes to include Binga after realising that children with disabilities were still being denied basic rights such as education.

“Our investigations have uncovered worrisome issues that need to be urgently addressed such as lack of rehabilitation facilities to cater for disabled children which have resulted in many failing to access education or being hidden from the eyes of the world,” said Phiri.

She said cultural beliefs on disability were responsible for pushing parents into hiding children out of fear of being shunned by the community or worse, being accused of practising witchcraft.

“More needs to be done in educating communities that disability can happen to anyone. Cultural stereotyping has to be discouraged. Part of our programming involves offering counselling services to parents of children with disabilities on how to cope as some spouses trade accusations at each other after the birth of a disabled child,” she said.

While government has tried to ensure the development and supply of support services such as assistive devices for persons with disabilities to assist them to increase their level of independence in their daily living and to exercise their rights, little has been done in respect to children.

Matabeleland North Provincial Social Welfare officer Mcnon Chirinzepi confirmed the occurrence of such incidents but said it was difficult to ascertain the exact figure as most cases go unreported.

“I’ve heard of such cases occurring in the province particularly Hwange and Binga where there is a high population of disabled people. However, it would be difficult to come up with a figure as these cases are rarely reported,” said Chirinzepi.

While the country has some of the best legislation on paper such as the Disabled Persons Act of 1992, which makes it unlawful to discriminate against persons with disabilities, little has been done to fully implement it. Among other issues, the Act also calls for equal opportunities for persons with disabilities by ensuring that they obtain education and employment, participate fully in sporting, recreational and cultural activities and are afforded full access to community and social services.

In 2006, the United Nations adopted the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), which is a ground breaking multi-lateral treaty. Zimbabwe ratified the UNCRPD in September 2013, and by doing so, it agreed to implement the legal rights and obligations of persons with disabilities in the Convention.

National Council of Disabled Persons of Zimbabwe (NCDPZ) a cross-disability, rights-based organisation of persons with disabilities has accused the government of lagging behind in facilitating the social integration of citizens with disabilities. Many persons with disabilities have taken to begging in order to access food; and snap surveys reveal that for every ten beggars in the streets of Bulawayo and Harare, eight are persons with disabilities.

Investigations revealed that most persons with disabilities who are registered to receive a $20 monthly assistance package under the Department of Social Services have for the past three years not received their payments.

The 2013 UN edition of The State of the World’s Children acknowledges that given opportunities to flourish as others might, children with disabilities have the potential to lead fulfilling lives and to contribute to the social, cultural and economic vitality of their communities.

Yet surviving and thriving can be especially difficult for children with disabilities. They are at greater risk of being poor than peers without disabilities.

Even where children share the same disadvantages, children with disabilities confront additional challenges as a result of their impairments and the many barriers that society throws in their way.

Children living in poverty are among the least likely to enjoy the benefits of education and health care, for example, but children who live in poverty and have a disability are even less likely to attend the local school or clinic.

It has been found that in many countries, responses to the situation of children with disabilities are largely limited to institutionalisation, abandonment or neglect. These responses are said to be the problem, and rooted in negative assumptions of incapacity, dependency and difference that are perpetuated by ignorance.

“Children with disabilities encounter different forms of exclusion and are affected by them to varying degrees depending on the type of disability they have, where they live and the culture or class to which they belong,” said Phiri.

She said children with disabilities are often regarded as inferior, and this exposes them to increased vulnerability. Discrimination based on disability has manifested itself in marginalisation from resources and decision making, and even in infanticide. Exclusion often stems from invisibility.

Community education is needed to ensure inclusive policies are enforced consistently across all disabilities and to promote tolerance of difference.