Officials from Special Olympics Rwanda this week held a meeting with representatives of media houses with a view to raise awareness around the welfare of children and adults with intellectual disability.

According to Special Olympics Rwanda’s statistics, over 19,000 children and adults across Rwanda live with intellectual disability but it’s believed that the number could be as high as double or even tripling this figure if all cases of intellectual disability were recorded.

Intellectual Disability is a term used when a person has certain limitations in cognitive functioning and skills including communication, social and self-care skills, according to Special Olympics International.

One of the challenges facing people with intellectual disability is the fact that many people tend to lump them together with people with mental disorders, which means they are unlikely to receive the kind of attention they need in society.

Some have even been taken to Neuro-Psychiatric Hospital Caraes Ndera, because their parents treat their case as just another mental health condition.

Indeed, children and adults with intellectual disability are mostly deprived of their basic rights, including the right to education and play, which only exacerbates their situation. Many families and even parents subject children and adults with intellectual disability to social isolation, some going as far as hiding them or mistreating them and making them feel unwanted and unworthy.

Fortunately, thanks to the Government’s inclusion policy, more and more children and adults with intellectual disability are now going to school, especially centres for special needs education, while they are also getting involved in games locally and even internationally.

Education and sports stimulate children and adults with intellectual disability, particularly early on, allowing them to improve their behaviour as well as intelligence and learning capabilities. They are also able to learn to interact with others, have fun and laugh and this makes them feel loved and accepted by society.

Through inter-school programmes in Special Olympics competitions, many children and adults living with intellectual disability are nowadays able to engage in different sporting activities.

Nonetheless, there is still stigma associated with intellectual disability and there is a need for deeper community engagement and sensitisation to bring about improved wellbeing of these compatriots.

And we all have a role to play, from leaders to educational institutions and policymakers to media houses to parents and families both in urban and rural areas.

Inclusion has been the hallmark of our national ethos for a few decades now and we must see to it that not a single child or an adult with intellectual disability is left behind.