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Parents of the Disabled

Paellas Mphsohle

Lesotho does not have clear statistics of people with disabilities. Some attempts were made to collect such statistics but they resulted in contradicting figures. Prior to 1980, the provision of looking into the welfare issues of the people with disabilities had been the responsibility of NGOs, churches and individuals. During the Decade of the Disabled People, 1983 - 1992, people with disabilities, parents and their organisations began to demand their rights, including a national education provision for children with disabilities. Lesotho was also influenced by this call. Organisations of people with disabilities were formed during this period. In 1987 and 1988, the idea of Special Education was widely discussed under the Ministry of Education and in 1990 the ministry came up with the education policy emphasizing integration of children with special needs into regular school system at all levels.

Lesotho Society of Mentally Handicapped Persons (LSMHP) was established in November 1992 by parents of children with mental disabilities. Later, parents of children with other disabilities joined the organisation. These parents work hand in hand for protecting the rights of children with disabilities and adults with mental disabilities.

· Raising awareness on the activities of government departments

· Advocating inclusive services such as education, employment, health and recreation

· Raising awareness among community leaders

· Identifying children with disabilities and adults with mental disabilities

· LSMHP has formed 12 Branches and many sub-branches throughout the country. The training is provided at branch offices.

· Training of children at home

· Exchange of experiences among parents

· Provision of ADL programme in Maseru

· Visiting schools to establish placements

· Follow-up visits to check on progress

· Weekly meeting of young adults

· Involvement with Durham Link youth activities including sports, discussion and drama.

Since 1992, LSMHP's efforts have been mainly focused on empowering the parents of children with disabilities and helping them advocate the rights of their children. Parent to parent support has been the main feature of the organisation in all the branches. People with mental disabilities have been involved in a limited way, but in the future they will be involved much more. For example, during awareness campaigns, adults with mental disabilities would be requested to hold talks with government officials so as to urge the state to provide them their inherent rights.

Young people have also been involved in youth activities with other organisations such as Durham Link Youth Activities Project where they interact with different youth groups. This youth participation has spread from Maseru branch to two other branches. There is still a great need to reach out to more adults in other districts so that a strong advocacy organisation can be built with full participation of parents and self-advocates.

Early Intervention Programme is for parents and small children offered to every Maseru. This programme is an effort to show the government and other service providers the type of services young children with disabilities need in order to minimise the impact of their disability and to enhance self-reliance. This programme also prepares children for integration into regular schools and general social activities. If funding is available a pilot community based Parent Empowerment Programme is expected to be launched in two districts in 2000.

LSMHP benefits from skilled human resources from both MS Lesotho and Skill share Africa. These organisations are assisting the organisation with training and personnel development.

Lilian Mariga is a consultant for The Norwegian Association of Mentally Handicapped, who is supporting the LSMHP. When she visited the Lesotho Society of Mentally Handicapped Persons as a facilitator for a workshop in May 1998 she expressed her thoughts on the work done by the LSMHP. "Other African countries are now learning from Lesotho, how to deal with children with disabilities". Here she gives a cursory view on the impact of the organisation’s work.

The parents of the Lesotho Society of the Mentally Handicapped Persons are empowered and informed about how they can be of best use. They no longer think of building exclusive facilities for their children. They now act as watchdogs on policies related to disability issues and join hands with the policy makers and others concerned. They are working tirelessly to make sure laws of their land do not exclude the welfare issues of the Persons with Disabilities. Where there is malpractice or injustice, they stop at nothing but question and demand that justice be met out. It is interesting to note that this is more of a case at branch levels. The members, through what they have learned during the training, are trying to bridge the gap between the parents and other people by working with them and organising training workshops to share views on what can be done. What is encouraging is that even parents who are not highly educated have exhibited very good organisational skills. "I am deeply convinced that the government's Inclusive Education Programme is moving well because of the support from families," she observed. Members of the Lesotho Society of Mentally Handicapped Persons were recently participating at a workshop in the Teachers Training College, sharing their experiences with professionals from different arena.

The organisation is aware that it is a grass-root organisation that fights for the cause of human rights for the persons with disabilities. It helps the Persons with Disabilities to become self-advocates about their rights and bring them with Disabilities in the mainstream of the society.

‘The Parents as Trainers Workshop’ requested by LSMHP and run by some facilitators, has empowerment the parents of the disabled because they can identify their crucial needs by working in groups and branches. They finally consult the persons with special aptitudes to assist them in the form of training. Their work involves branch formation, collaboration with other service providers, attitude changing at different levels, carrying out home visits for parents of children with severe and profound disabilities and running home based programmes, organising and running training workshops in an attempt to building a society for all.

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