Inclusive development for persons with disabilities: Rights and contributions of deaf Kenyans

Kenya is geographically situated in East Africa and attained its independence from Britain in 1963. In 1964 the country's population was 9.1 million (Karanja, 1966). Kenya's populace has since grown to 38,610,097 people according to the latest population census results carried out by the government in 2009. Mortality rate for children under 5 years was calculated in the same year to be about 84 for every 1,000 children. The United States' CIA Factbook ranks Kenya as the nation with the 44th highest infant mortality in the world. The average life expectancy of a Kenyan is 54 years. In addition, it estimated that in 2006 about 47% of Kenyans were considered poor at the national level. These people generally lived below the poverty line and survived on less than US$ 1 per day (Institute of Economic Affairs, 2011). IFAD (2011) further states that the country's Gross National Index (GNI) per capita stood at US$ 770 in 2009 while annual Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita in the same year was US$ 30, 200,251,314. In 2010, the United Nations Development Programme (2011) ranked Kenya at position 143 out of 187 countries. According to this report, the country had a very low Human Development Index (HDI) of 0.509. Despite these startling figures, the country is, nevertheless, reported to have recorded an impressive 115% gross enrollment in primary school as well as a high literacy rate of up to 85% of people aged 15 years old and above by 2008.