Association for Accessibility and Equality

19/06/2025

🔹 Making Inclusion Work: What the PWD Act 2025 Means for Your Workplace 🔹

The Persons with Disabilities Act 2025 isn’t just a legal milestone — it’s a call to action for employers across Kenya. Whether you're in government, civil society, or the private sector, the Act lays out clear, actionable steps to create inclusive, accessible, and equitable workplaces. From job quotas to tax incentives, workplace adjustments to protection from discrimination — it’s time to turn policy into practice. Are you compliant?

17/06/2025

Critical Analysis: Advancing the Implementation of Kenya’s Digital Accessibility Framework

Overview
Kenya has made remarkable progress by formalising digital accessibility in both law and national standards. The KS 2952-1:2022 on ICT Accessibility and the PWD Act 2025 offer a dual framework—technical and legal—for ensuring inclusive digital environments for persons with disabilities. However, translating these instruments from paper to practice demands coordinated action across sectors.
________________________________________
What Needs to Happen Next: Key Action Areas
1. For Policy Makers: From Policy to Practice
• Operationalize the Provisions: Develop accompanying implementation regulations for the PWD Act’s digital accessibility clauses, with clear timelines, assigned mandates, and measurable outcomes.
• Budget Allocation: Allocate dedicated funding within ICT, education, health, and communication budgets for accessibility compliance and technology procurement.
• Procurement Reform: Mandate accessibility criteria in all public sector ICT procurement (hardware, software, platforms), aligning with KS 2952-1:2022.
• Inter-Ministerial Coordination: Establish a Digital Accessibility Implementation Taskforce, including representatives from CAK, ICT ministry, OPDs, civil society, and technical experts.
2. For Civil Society and Human Rights Institutions: Accountability and Advocacy
• Monitor Compliance: Track government and private sector compliance with Sections 26(3)–(10) of the PWD Act and publish regular progress reports.
• Strategic Litigation: Where necessary, support test cases that challenge inaccessible digital services, leveraging the law to set legal precedents.
• Public Awareness Campaigns: Increase awareness of the legal obligations and rights under these new standards, using media, workshops, and public dialogue.
• Engage Regulators: Proactively work with CAK and other oversight bodies to co-design practical tools for monitoring digital accessibility.
3. For Organisations of Persons with Disabilities (OPDs): Central Role in Design and Monitoring
• Co-Creation and Testing: Advocate for mandatory involvement of PWDs in the design, testing, and feedback processes of ICT systems—especially in public service delivery.
• Capacity Building: Train OPDs on the technical and legal aspects of digital accessibility standards so they can effectively participate in compliance assessments.
• Documentation of Barriers: Systematically document and report digital exclusion cases to national and international human rights bodies.
4. For Persons with Disabilities: Individual Agency and Empowerment
• Know Your Rights: Learn about Sections 26(3)–(10) of the PWD Act and the KS 2952-1:2022 requirements. Advocate for your right to accessible ICT in public and private settings.
• Report Non-Compliance: Use mechanisms such as the Commission on Administrative Justice (Ombudsman), National Council for PWDs, or the courts to report inaccessibility.
• Participate in Feedback Loops: Join consultations, surveys, or pilot programs related to digital services to ensure the lived experiences of PWDs shape implementation.
________________________________________
Challenges to Watch
• Lack of enforcement mechanisms without proper resourcing or willpower.
• Digital divide: even if content is accessible, connectivity and digital literacy gaps remain barriers.
• Tokenistic consultation: true inclusion means involving PWDs as decision-makers, not just as stakeholders.
• Private sector apathy: strong regulatory push will be needed to bring non-state actors into compliance.
________________________________________
Conclusion: Turning Policy into Change
Kenya stands at a historic intersection of legislation and standardisation for digital inclusion. However, the transformative power of these tools lies in multi-sectoral commitment, resourced implementation, and rights-holder engagement. We must now move urgently from intention to impact—ensuring no Kenyan is excluded from the digital world on the basis of disability.

Call now to connect with business.

12/06/2025

🚨 **Hot off the press!**

Today, **June 12, 2025**, the W3C officially published two key accessibility standards as **W3C Recommendations**:
📘 **Digital Publishing WAI-ARIA Module 1.1 (DPUB-ARIA 1.1)**
📘 **Digital Publishing Accessibility API Mappings 1.1 (DPUB-AAM 1.1)**

These updated standards are a **major milestone for accessibility in digital publishing**, particularly for long-form content like eBooks, academic works, and digital textbooks.

# # # 🔍 What’s new?

* ✅ New roles: `doc-page-header` and `doc-page-footer` for better document navigation.
* ✅ Improved mappings to accessibility APIs to enhance support across devices and platforms.
* ✅ Better support for screen readers and assistive technologies.

# # # 💡 Why this matters:

These standards help:
➡️ Users with disabilities navigate digital content more effectively
➡️ Publishers create *born-accessible* eBooks and documents
➡️ Developers build more inclusive reading experiences
➡️ Organizations align with global accessibility regulations

If you're in **publishing**, **edtech**, **content creation**, or **accessibility consulting**, this is big news for you!

Learn more: [WAI-ARIA Overview](https://www.w3.org/WAI/standards-guidelines/aria/)
\

---

10/06/2025

The Persons with Disability Bill 2025 was assented to by the President William Ruto on May 8th 2025. It repeals and replaces the Persons with Disabilities Act No. 14 of 2003 and Enacts Article 54 of the Constitution of Kenya.
It expands rights (education, work, healthcare, political participation), defines government obligations (both national and county), and introduces enforceable penalties. It also establishes a restructured National Council for Persons with Disabilities (NCPWD). I will be breaking it down into small chunks so that we can all be aware of what this means to us as individuals, institutions, etc. Allow me to begin with :Digital accessibility.

27/01/2025

We are going to be uploading short clips and hosting XSpaces to address different isses touching on the lives of persons with disability. Please share here, if there is a particular topic that you would prefer and if you would like to be a speaker in one of our XSpace. Lets do this together!

23/01/2025

It’s always enlightening to engage with a global audience and hear the various perspectives on disability. In todays class Project Nemo, I realized that what I understand as “Identity” — where the person comes first, followed by the disability — is not the same for everyone. Personally, I prefer to be identified as a "person with disability." However, for someone else, putting "disability" first in their identity is important, so they prefer to be referred to as a "disabled person." In Kenya, because of our culture and language, the term "disabled person" is considered disrespectful and demeaning.

While we may never fully agree on a single term, one thing we all share is the understanding that it's crucial to ALWAYS ASK someone how they prefer to be identified.

16/01/2025

What if Inclusive Websites and Apps, Ensuring all websites and digital platforms comply with accessibility standards (e.g., WCAG 2.1). This must include text-to-speech functions, alt-text for images, and keyboard navigation, was your top priority in 2025?

07/01/2025

We would like to take this opprortunity to thank all our partners and supporters who saw us through the year 2024. Thank you and God bless you indeed!

In This New Year

Let’s set intentional goals and commit to accessibility and inclusivity. This year brings another opportunity to view accessibility through a fresh lens—being deliberate in our policies, fostering inclusivity for persons with disabilities in every aspect, and, above all, striving to make a positive impact in every space we occupy.

Here’s to a purposeful and impactful year ahead, 2025!

Please reach out to us, invite us to come and discuss or give a talk to your congreatation, your institution, your organization, your company on accessibility and equality. Make us your accessibility and Equality partner!

03/12/2024

“The lived experiences of persons with disability’s offer unique lenses through which we can examine our societal structures and challenge the status quo. By recognizing and empowering persons with disabilities, as leaders and change-makers, we can create a more equitable and sustainable future for everyone. The journey toward inclusivity is not just about representation; it is about transforming our world into a space where all voices are heard, valued, and utilized toward building a better tomorrow”.
Judi Okite, Founder, Association for Accessibility and Equality.

“Amplifying the leadership of persons with disabilities for an inclusive and sustainable future” make it count!

03/12/2024

As we celebrate the international Day for person with Disability,I Celebrate the chairperson of this forum,Judy you're a champion,I thank God for you and the continued efforts that you put in advocating for accessibility for all,

03/12/2024

The day that we have all been waiting for ....🥳🥳🥳🥳I celebrate every person with a disability, all the care givers, disability advocates.....this far the LORD has kept us and we have made it and watch this space!!🥰🥰 International Day of Persons with Disability.

21/11/2024

Count down: 12days to the International Day of Persons with Disabilities (IDPD). What issues would you like to see highlighted in this year's celebration? If you are planning, something , share here that we may join into the celebration with you.