“This Time of Corona Has Been Hard”: People with Disabilities’ Experiences of the COVID-19 Pandemic in Kenya || “Kipindi hiki cha corona kimekuwa kigumu”: uzoefu wa watu wenye ulemavu kuhusu gonjwa-tandavu la COVID-19 nchini Kenya

The COVID-19 pandemic is deepening pre-existing inequalities. Emerging research suggests that people with disabilities across the world have experienced various rights violations and been disproportionality affected by the health, economic and social impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and the responses to it. The aim of this research was to explore how people with disabilities, who often are excluded from research, have experienced the evolving COVID-19 pandemic in Kenya. To better understand how it has affected jobseekers with disabilities, in-depth qualitative research was conducted in Kenya as part of the Inclusion Works programme.

This is a report on a qualitative study undertaken as part of the Inclusion Works programme, aiming to reach a group who are not often included in research studies. A Kenya-based researcher asked 10 people with disabilities in Kenya to tell us about their lives during the COVID-19 pandemic. They had different types of disabilities such as intellectual, psychosocial, physical, and visual disabilities.