Jump to Main ContentJump to Primary Navigation

Meet Mercy Murua: The One Woman Army Fighting For Access For All

When I wake up in the morning, I don’t think about my journey from my house to the station and if they’re adequate ramps to get me there. Nor do I think about adequate toilet facilities, because if a toilet is out of use, broken or dirty, I can just walk in to another one nearby. I don’t think about if where I’m going has a lift for me to get to other floors in the building because if not, I can take the stairs. But this is something we should all be thinking about because for Mercy Murua, a full time wheelchair user, these are some of the many thoughts about access that play on her mind daily.

“As a disabled wheelchair user, my mind is preoccupied by many of the things non-disabled people take for granted. But that’s exactly why I continue fighting for access. I was born in Kenya where I developed polio, and unfortunately, because of the negative stereotypes about disability and misinformation Kenyans had about my condition, I was abandoned by my mother as a toddler and placed into a children’s home.”