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by Flora Karambu, Coordinator, Maua Community Health Information Center
This month we were privileged to have clients with various disabilities visit our facility. They presented challenges for us, but together we worked and are continuing to work towards overcoming those challenges.
We first had the honour to assist a young man with a hearing impairment. We had a difficult time explaining to him about our centre, since we had to communicate with him in sign language, a method of communication which is new to us. We had to improvise somewhat; but, fortunately, the young man was literate. We gave him the CD summaries; and, he went through them with our assistance. He became interested in the CD on HIV/AIDS. He read through the material with great enthusiasm. The only problem was that we could not communicate effectively with him in sign language; hence, we were not quite sure whether or not he was getting the maximum benefit of acquiring information from our facility. Upon his departure, we asked him to write comments about the centre in our book. In those comments, he indicated that he had truly benefited from the information he received; and, to our satisfaction, he has made repeat visits.
A subsequent visitor to the centre was a young blind man. This individual was a teacher at a school for the blind, who is currently in college pursuing his further education. Communicating with him also proved quite challenging, since our information is not in Braille. After we explained to him the purpose of our centre, we read through the CD summaries with him. He chose to access the CD on hepatitis. We again read the contents aloud to him. He felt that the information on hepatitis was not completely detailed enough for him. We then presented him with the CD on hepatitis B. He also expressed an interest in the CD on "Books, Booze, and Student Stress", and that information was read to him. Finally, he asked for information on tobacco. Upon the conclusion of his review, the young teacher said he had enjoyed the information and that it was quite educational. He did offer a criticism by noting that the information on student stress was not completely adequate, since a beginner may not know what stress is and how it connects to a student. He advised us that he would visit our facility again and stated that he would bring his Braillewriter along next time so that he could take notes.
We asked him what he thought should be done to make it easier for the blind to facilitate accessing the information. We also asked him what we could do, in general, for all persons with disabilities. He stated that he could not comment about the requirements of people with disabilities other than blindness since he felt that each disability is unique and requires unique attention. However, he did offer one suggestion that we make available adjustable chairs for those with limb disabilities. Turning his attention to the blind, he advised us that the installation of an embosser (an instrument installed in a computer which changes print literature into Braille) would make it easier for the blind to get the information. He did state, however, that the embosser would require us to have special Braille computer paper. He told us that an alternative to this embosser would be a Kurzweil, a machine that reads the sound aloud, instead of changing the print into Braille. He was keen to inform us that the cost of these machines could be a bit high. Finally, he stated that he was grateful to the staff for the attention that he was given. As we parted, we felt that we had learned from him just as much as he had learned from us. True to his promise, he has been making repeat visits to our centre. He has been inquiring whether there is any information available on possible research done with reference to khat (miraa), a drug grown in the area and sold in many parts of the world. We are currently looking into that for him.
Finally, we had an opportunity to offer assistance to a commercial sex worker. She had come to the hospital. When one of our workers spotted her at the facility, we asked her if she would be interested in coming to the centre. She agreed to access the information provided that it was free. She was very pleased when she found out that there was no charge for acquiring information at the centre. She told us that she wanted to learn about HIV/AIDS. As she was taken through the information on the CD, she expressed that she had come across people who had demonstrated many of the symptoms shown. She kept acknowledging that those who were engaged in unselected (and unprotected) sex were at high risk of contracting HIV/AIDS. She said she would bring one of her friends to our facility, who presently had a condition similar to the ones she saw on the CD. She promised to bring her friends to the centre "to see for themselves." Though we were not sure at the time whether or not she would actually bring the sick friend to the hospital, she kept her word and came with two friends the following day. We are doing our best to ensure that she keeps in touch and continues to bring others like her to the centre so that they may access the information with a view towards changing their behaviour.
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