The Global disability Summit was created in 2017 to convene global, regional, and national stakeholders that share the same goal and vision for disability inclusive development and humanitarian action. The Summits aim to close the gap between two often disconnected areas: disability inclusion and development cooperation. It is held every three years. The third Global Disability Alliance will be hosted by the Government of Germany and the Government of Jordan on 2^nd – 3^rd April 2025 in Berlin, Germany. Kenya has sent a delegate through the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection-state department for Social Protection and Senior Citizens Affairs. L’Arche Kenya and St. Martin CSA are part of the Kenyan delegation through the kind financial support of FAI, Switzerland. St. Martin CSA and L’Arche Kenya are represented by Kinyua Wachira, the Director, L’Arche Kenya.
L’Arche Kenya co-hosted the Global Disability Mini-Summit Kenya in Nairobi on 26-28 February 2025 in partnership with the State Department for Social Protection and Senior Citizens Affairs among other stakeholders. The theme of the mini summit was strengthening disability inclusion: Evaluating commitments and driving sustainable change.

The objective of 2025 summit is to build and expand the momentum of the previous two Global Disability Summits, by amplifying its impact in advancing the rights and inclusion of all persons with disabilities through international cooperation. Towards this end, several key messages have been identified by the co-hosts to determine the most cutting-edge and innovative approach for the GDS 2025 (Global Disability Summit, White Paper March 2024). One of the key messages is nothing about us without us. The Global Disability Summit is about persons with disabilities. As such, they should be at the centre of the discussion and negotiation table in Berlin, Germany. Ironically, many persons with disabilities were left behind. This is against the central and transformative promise of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its Sustainable Development Goals of Leave No One Behind.

Back home, in Nyahururu, Kenya, Maikii, a young person living with disability was sponsored by Fondazione Assistance Internationale to participate in the global summit. As fate would have it, he was denied a visa on the grounds that he does not have a bank account! Many persons with Disability in Kenya face barriers to accessing and retaining formal employment. According to Disability Inclusion Status Report 2025 by UNDP, “…Kenya’s journey towards disability inclusion remains hindered by systemic, socio-economic, and cultural barriers that reinforce the exclusion of persons with disabilities from essential services, employment, and full societal participation. Actual integration into the workforce remains low. In 2023, only 41% of persons with disabilities labor force were integrated into the national workforce resulting in symptoms of tokenistic approaches rather than meaningful inclusion”. Based on these facts, many voices from persons with disabilities were left out.

A second key message for GDS 2025 is Focus on Rights. The summit intends to make it clear that the ongoing discrimination of persons with disabilities is a violation of human rights that State Parties are obliged to respect, promote, and fulfil. On 28^th March 2025, a few days before the global summit kicked off, I participated in a social-spiritual event in a mainstream church compound. Despite the Church having magnificent infrastructure, some pre-dating precolonial era, the church did not have disability friendly washrooms. My colleague in a wheelchair had to be taken from the venue to a different location to answer the call of nature.

These two examples, in the doorsteps of Nyahururu, where St. Martin CSA and L’Arche Kenya had a vibrant and comprehensive community-based disability program for the last 25 years is a testimony that we are we have come from far, yet too far. The selection of Maikii to participate in this year GDS is part of the success story. The denial of a visa is one of the many reasons why our voice must be heard in Berlin. Maikii is following the proceedings online, and our greatest desire is that he will be able to physically participate in the next Global Disability Summit and thousands of other persons with disabilities who were denied the right to be heard due to systemic barriers.